This Shark With A Big Mouth Will Creep You Out

Its diet may surprise you.
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The basking shark has a whole lot of mouth but not a lot of bite.

The shark can grow more than 40 feet long and weigh 5 tons, making it the second largest fish, according to the HuffPost Originals video above.

It's un-"Jaws"-like diet might come as a surprise to some. The shark is a "filter feeder." It keep its 3-foot-wide mouth open to scoop tiny zooplankton out of the ocean.

According to sharksider.com, basking sharks travel in large groups but are also known to swim solo. You'll have a tough time spotting them under any circumstances.

"In contemporary times, sightings have been extremely rare," Owyn Snodgrass of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told the Orange County Register recently. "When they’re observed, they’re just lazily swimming, filter feeding and eating as much as they can."

Before You Go

Silky sharks in Jardines de la Reina archipelago in Cuba.

The Beauty Of Sharks

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