New findings on basking sharks blow assumptions out of the water 

Basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, the 2nd largest fish in the sea, feeding by straining plankton through gill rakers, off Land's End, Cornwall, United Kingdom. Media permission to use this image, with inclusion of photographer's copyright © Doug Perrine, only in connection with news related to Western University research. If basking sharks were like Canadians, their migration habits might be easily explained: head south to avoid winter's chill, and north again to enjoy summer's warmth. It turns out basking sharks are a more complex puzzle, Western biology professor Paul Mensink and his colleagues discovered while examining the seasonal movements of the enormous fish. Mensink and fellow researchers at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland tracked four basking sharks - so large they can reach the size of a school bus - off the northernmost tip of Ireland to find out where they over-winter, and why. They affixed tags that would record the sharks' location, along with water temperature and depth. "The assumption was that they swim to Ireland's coastal waters for the summer, because of its really productive feeding areas, and then take off for the south in winter where it's warmer.