This is a sluggish, inoffensive fish, helpless of attack so far as its minute teeth are concerned. It spends much time sunning itself at the surface of the water, often lying with its back awash and dorsal fin high out of water, or on its side, or even on its back sunning its belly; sometimes it loafs along with the snout out of water, the mouth open, gathering its provender of plankton.
The basking shark rivals, though it does not equal, the whale shark of tropical seas in size. We read, for example, of one of 35 to 38 feet harpooned by Capt. N. E. Atwood off Provincetown, Mass., about 1863, that towed the fishing smack all night, and broke loose finally. From Fishes of the Gulf of Maine by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) online courtesy of MBL/WHOI http://www.gma.org/fogm/Cetorhinus_maximus.htm
The basking shark is the second largest fish, with reported specimens larger than the 33 foot schooner GREEN DRAGON.
This year is the 500th anniversary of The Assumption by Titian. It is located in the grand Basilica Dei Frari in Venice, completed in 1396. We attended an awesome choral concert there tonight.
Good Morning Gloucester 