6. Basking Shark
The basking shark is one of the largest living fish, following the whale shark. On average, basking sharks reach somewhere between 20 and 26 feet (6-8 meters), and they’re gray and brown in color. The largest specimen ever found was caught back in 1851 in Canada and had a total length of 40.3 feet (12.27 meters) and weighed about 19 tons. Of course, such specimens may very well still roam the seas, but since they haven’t been caught we don’t know about them. Then again, considering just how much we know about our oceans, that’s no surprise.
These sharks are often mistaken for great white sharks, but you can tell them apart by their jaws. The basking shark has a cavernous jaw and obvious gill slits, while the great whites have teeth like daggers.
