Moray Firth sees visit from a group of basking sharks
A group of basking sharks are causing excitement after being spotted off the Moray coastline.
These photos were taken by Graham Campbell, a RNLI volunteer from Orkney, who was down providing cover in Buckie last week.
Graham said: “They’re beautiful creatures so I was really pleased to get some photographs of them. I’ve seen basking sharks once or twice before over the years, but never in such numbers.
“It seems like more are coming to the Moray Firth nowadays to feast on the plankton.
“We spotted the first about 300 metres off the shore at Buckpool, then another west of the entrance to Buckie harbour.
“Later, there was a group of seven a few hundreds metres out to sea further along the coast between Strathlene and Findochty.”
Basking sharks are typically about 24ft in length, making them the second largest type after the whale shark.
While you might have reservations about ending up in the water next to one, it’s relatively safe because the species are strict vegetarians.
Usually solitary, basking sharks sometimes team up in groups upon finding dense patches of plankton, which they eat by filtering up to 130,000 gallons of water through their mouths per hour.
