Click here to watch a video of the rare basking shark spotted off the Dana Point Coastline on Wednesday morning. It was taken by Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching's vessel, the Sum Fun during a 3/4 day fishing trip.
The basking shark is considered to be the second largest fish, behind the whale shark, according to Dana Wharf's General Manager of Dana Wharf, Donna Kalez. 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, according to Wikipedia.
This shark is called the "basking" shark because it is most often observed when feeding at the surface and appears to be basking in the warmer water there.
