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Basking Sharks - £20
 Click here to Adopt online
Download this form to Adopt by mail
Basking Shark Research Programme
“To all of you who have been kind enough to adopt the basking bunch – thank you for your support. Your support helps provide vital funds for our photo-ID work, and we would be lost without it.”
 The Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the world's second largest fish at over 10 metres in length and up to seven tonnes in weight. Occurring in temperate waters around the world, it has long been a regular visitor to the British Isles, complete with its own place in history and legend.
Basking sharks are believed to have been the inspiration for many "sea monster" tales, particularly where a number were spotted together basking at the surface, showing a multitude of noses, tails and fins. Equally, many stranded basking sharks in varying stages of decomposition were misidentified as monsters, including the famous "Stronsay monster" found in the Orkney Isles, and the "Broad headed gazer" discovered in Cornwall. Myth and superstition were not allowed to get in the way of exploitation, though, and from the mid 1700s attempts were being made to develop basking shark fisheries in Ireland and the Western Isles of Scotland.
The Basking Shark adoption programme has been set up to raise funds for Basking Shark research which is investigating and analysing the sightings of Basking Sharks seen around the UK coastline and further afield.
The European Basking Shark Photo-identification Project (EBSPiP) has been compiling Basking Shark photographs since 1999. The images are stored on an electronic database for researchers to compare photographs of distinctive sharks from different areas.
While most Basking Sharks appear fairly similar in appearance, some have distinctive colour markings or, like Rooster and Stumpy, have sustained injuries that have clipped off sections or left distinctive cuts in their dorsal or tail fins. This research can help provide scientific information that is vital to the conservation of the species. The EBSPiP catalogue can be seen online at www.sharktrust.org/sd.
Basking Bunch
 The Basking Bunch consists of six unmistakeable characters: Badge, 7 m long with a distinctive badge like marking on the left side of the dorsal fin, Biscuit, 7.5 m long named after a tiny semi-circular cut on the tip of the tail that looks like a bite from a cookie!, Curly, a large Basker with a huge dorsal fin that has a crooked front and a curly tip, Diamond, 7m long with two large triangular cuts on the back edge of the dorsal fin, Rooster, a young shark 4m long with a split dorsal fin that resembles a roosters comb, and of course our old favourite, Stumpy, 8 m long with just a jagged 25 cm stump on her back, possibly caused by a collision with a boat whose propeller took off most of her large dorsal fin. All are regular visitors to the UK coastline and are all easily recognisable by their individual markings and scars on their dorsal and tail fins. What have the Basking Bunch been up to? Click here for the latest reports
Click here to Adopt online now or download this form to Adopt by mail
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