Impressive video!

Eight-meter-long shark discovered off Croatia’s coast

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/facebook.com/fpz.unipu.hr)

A fisherman has managed to capture a sensational image off the coast of the Croatian village of Medveja: He was able to film a basking shark doing its rounds 200 meters from the shore, just below the water's surface. 

The image was published on the Facebook page of the University of Natural Sciences in Pula. The researchers estimate the size of the basking shark to be an impressive eight meters.

The university's post on Facebook: 

The fact that the animals like to stay close to the water surface has earned them the English name "basking shark", the university further explains. "To bask" means as much as "to bask". "And the sharks behave as if they are visibly enjoying the sun," the Facebook post states. 

Second largest fish species in the world
The basking shark may look very imposing, but it is harmless. It filters the water for plankton. They like to swim through the water near the surface in search of food. It is the second largest fish species after the whale shark and can grow up to twelve meters long. They live in cool temperate to tropical waters - often, but not exclusively, near the coast.

Just at the beginning of last year, a basking shark was filmed off the coast of Pula. A specimen was also recorded off Trieste. Italian researchers were delighted with the sensational discovery, as it gives "hope for species that are increasingly threatened throughout the Mediterranean".