Great White Shark vs. Basking Shark Infomation - Town Of Orleans

Great White Shark vs. Basking Shark Information
Here are the differences between basking sharks and white sharks. More
than 99% of the white shark reports we get turn out to be basking sharks.
They do have a similar body shape but if you know what to look for it's
easy to distinguish them.
Here's the top three things to look for:
1. Dorsal fin: The white shark has a fin that comes to a point at the apex
and a straight back edge. Basking sharks have a rounded dorsal that is
slightly convex on the back edge. Both can appear tattered on the back
edge.
2. Coloration: White sharks have a distinct two tone color going from
grey or black to white. Basking sharks can appear black, brown or gray,
most have mottling on them if you see them up close but not always and
although they can have lighter undersides they are usually uniform in color.
3. Gill slits: Basking sharks have gill slits that nearly encircle the head
making them very visible. White sharks have relatively small gill slits when
compared to the basking shark and they are usually not that noticeable
when viewed in the water.
A couple of other notes, white sharks rarely get over 20' so if someone
reports a shark over that size it usually is an indication of a basking shark.
Both sharks breach but off of Massachusetts basking sharks are more likely
to breach than white sharks. Both sharks can swim fast and will swim to
investigate boats, most people assume only a white shark does this. The
white sharks we've observed rarely come to the surface, while basking
sharks are often found swimming with their fins above the surface. Finally,
the third culprit in the misidentifications we receive is the ocean sunfish
(mola mola). They have very tall dorsal fins that are used for propulsion so
the fin is always moving up and down. If a witness sees a shark that
appears then disappears and reappears etc. then that's a sure sign its a
mola.

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