Volume 39, Plate XXVI / Ichthyology (Fish)

Basking Shark

Selachus maximus

By far the largest of our native fishes, frequently above thirty feet, the Basking Shark has small conic teeth, a nearly lunate tail, very large branchial apertures, and often moves slowly with its dorsal fin above water or reposes still at the surface. Less voracious than its congeners and feeding on echinus roe, medusae, and marine plants, it is harpooned with great difficulty, its large liver yielding abundant oil, sometimes a hundred and fifty gallons from one fish.