When winter comes, many people vacation in the Caribbean. A new report suggests basking sharks have the same idea.
Using satellite-based tagging technology, scientists have figured out that basking sharks migrate to the tropical waters of the Caribbean when the weather in their temperate locales gets cold. The study, published online May 7 in Current Biology, provides the first information on where basking sharks hide out for winter, a mystery that has flummoxed marine biologists for years.
Basking sharks, the second largest fish, are commonly seen in temperate regions of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Previous studies showed that basking sharks in the North Atlantic feed on plankton off the coast of New England during the late spring, summer and early fall.