Trivia question for Apr-17-2011

Olivia picked these guys because she said that the Basking Shark are so gentle and often misunderstood.  Lets see what trivia she dug up for you today:  These guys are the worlds second largest shark and they reach their impressive size by mainly feeding on plankton.

It is a cosmopolitan migratory species, found in all the world’s temperate oceans. It is a slow moving and generally harmless filter feeder and has anatomical adaptations to filter feeding, such as a greatly enlarged mouth and highly developed gill rakers.  Studies in 2003 proved that basking sharks do not hibernate, showing that they are active year-round. In winter, basking sharks move to depths of up to 3,000 ft to feed on deep water plankton.

It is sad to know that in summer months when these guys feed closer to the surface, in some areas of our oceans there is currently 6-times more plastic particles floating around than there is plankton.  Unless we start looking at reducing our plastic consumption, these guys might also become victim to the plastic pollution problem we have created.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us what their average body length is and how many tons of water does the average basking shark filter per hour?  Also, the Basking Shark is often hunted for its liver, tell us how much their liver usually weights and how many gallons of oil it can contain.

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to our friends at Save The Shark for sending us the nice email with the correct answers, we enjoyed the email.  The Basking Shark reaches an average length of about 33-feet and they filter about 2,000 tons of water per hour as they glide along through the ocean with their mouths stretched wide open.

The liver of the Basking Shark can weigh over 1,800-lbs. and can contain about 600-gallons of oil.  Here is more on these giant creatures:  Basking Shark

Thanks for playing along 😉