This Huge Shark Seen Off Hampton Beach Won’t Eat You

Don't worry!  The sharks you see off the coast of Hampton Beach are basking sharks and they eat plankton, not people.

According to a report from Seacoast online, basking sharks have been spotted close to Hampton Beach.  They are the 2nd largest fish in the entire world, with the whale shark taking the top spot.

According to Wiki, 

The basking shark is a ram feeder, filtering zooplankton, very small fish, and invertebrates from the water with its gill rakers by swimming forwards with their mouths open.

 

A basking shark's mouth is HUMUNGO.  Check out this picture from July 3, 1937.  A female fisherman caught this beauty off the coast of Scilly.  (Photo by Ward/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

This is a whale shark, a/k/a Monster Shark that washed up on the beach. Photo taken in 1965:   (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Side note: In both these pictures, I'm glad that we can't SMELL the atmosphere. Eyoo.

The ocean is filled with wonder.  I would love to learn how to scuba dive, wouldn't you?  there's a whole world that we CAN access!  If you think about it, you probably couldn't go in to outer space, but you can go under water!  (Admittedly, however, if I ever saw a basking shark coming my way with it's mouth open, I would probably pee my pants at the very least.)  I have to think that all the pictures and film I've seen under the water of our oceans is no comparison to the real thing.  I hope to scuba dive sometime next summer!