Basking shark
The size of various basking shark individuals with a human for scale
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Order:	Lamniformes
Family:	Cetorhinidae Gill, 1862
Genus:	Cetorhinus Blainville, 1816
Species:	C. maximus
Binomial name
Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765)
Range of the Basking shark (in blue)

The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is a huge filter-feeding shark, which can grow up to the length of 40 feet (12 metres). It is the second largest shark in the world (after the whale shark). The basking shark is also called the sunfish, the bone shark, the elephant shark, the sailfish shark, and the big mouth shark.