The basking shark’s scientific name, Cetorhinus maximus, roughly translates to “great-nosed sea monster” in Greek. In reality, these placid sharks, found the world over, are totally harmless.

Very little is known about basking sharks but that’s about to change, thanks to a pioneering team of scientists and some underwater cameras. The waters south of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides are ...

A whale-watching tour off Southern California got a close-up look at a passing basking shark ... “Like whale sharks and unlike white sharks, these gentle giants filter feed on dense clumps ...