Basking Shark Caught in Australia, Great White Caught on Video in Massachusetts
— -- It must be summer because sharks seem to be everywhere.
A giant basking shark — just under 21 feet long — was caught off the west coast of Victoria, Australia, and is now being researched at the Museum Victoria, the museum said today.
Across the world in Massachusetts, the first great white shark of the season was spotted by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy on Monday.
The slow-moving basking shark was accidentally caught in a fishing trawler's net and is just the third one the Museum Victoria has seen in more than 160 years.
The museum hopes to learn a lot about this species of “un-shark like” shark by looking at tissue samples, stomach contents and its vertebrae.
This shark is one of the largest fish species in the world – second only to the whale shark — and it typically feeds on plankton and jellyfish using its small 2-millimeter long teeth, according to the museum, which did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The great white spotted near South Beach in Orleans, Massachusetts was about 15 feet long, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Facebook post.
The underwater footage — shot by Dr. Greg Skomal — identified the shark as a female who had not yet been tagged by the group.
The conservancy is conducting a five-year study alongside the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries to catalog the white shark population. They were able to tag and identify 68 sharks last year.
