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Wednesday,
June 02, 2004
Basking
shark Enniscrone
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| Basking
shark in the calm waters of Killala Bay It must have been
the good weather that brought a school of basking sharks to
bask in the unusually still waters of Killala Bay last week.
The big fish — some as long as 20 feet — came in
close to the shore at Enniscrone and were also seen quite
close to the pier on two mornings last week. And just in case
would-be swimmers are getting worried this species of shark
has no teeth and are what are known as filter feeders. The
pictures were taken by Ballina man John Curry who is a keen
amateur wildlife photographer and who said, on this occasion,
he was ably assisted by boatman Pat Colleary, Enniscrone,
on board Saoirse. John Curry says that basking sharks have
been in Killala Bay in the past but fishermen told him they
usually only got one or two in recent years. “I photographed
four of them but fishermen told me there were nine in the
bay. They just cruise under the surface. It is amazing to
see them, not to mind photograph them,” he said. The
biggest was in excess of twenty feet and the smallest about
fourteen feet. “Pat Colleary was brilliant in anticipating
where they would swim to and he just left the boat in line
and they came quite close to it,” he said. The sharks
swim under the surface with their mouths open and they filter
plankton from the water.John Curry said one of the big fish
was feeding in three or four feet of water and must have been
belly scraping on the bottom. |
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