Up to 45 feet long. Fusiform; gray-brown or totally gray or black, occasionally lighter below. Snout short, nearly conical, tip rounded; teeth very small, conical. Gills slits very long, nearly meeting under throat; gill rakers long,horny, united at their bases, sometimes absent. First dorsal fin located between insertions of pectoral and pelvec fins; caudal fin lunate, upper lobe slightly larger than lower.

Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) has distinctive checkerboard-like color pattern and shorter gill slits.

Surface of open seas.

In Atlantic from central Newfoundland south to Florida during winter; in Pacific from Gulf of Alaska to Gulf of California.

Only the Whale Shark is larger than this huge fish. Basking Sharks feed on plankton using their large combs of horny gill rakers. They have been harvested by harpoon for their oil.