Basking Shark (Sealife by CollectA)

Jaws author Peter Benchley once stated in an interview that “every young man in the world is fascinated with either sharks or dinosaurs”. In my case it was both, and really the natural world in general, but sharks and dinosaurs took special interest. So, it made sense that a few years after launching my dinosaur collecting career, I would dip my toes into extant animals and start collecting sharks. I recall looking through the Safari Ltd. display at a craft store and buying the shark-ray, zebra, and leopard shark (I’ve reviewed them all). I also picked up and examined the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), one of my absolute favorite shark species, but I had to put it back down. For me, it was a disappointment, and so I decided to wait until a better basking shark came along. It took about 8 years but thanks to CollectA my patience has paid off. So now I present to you the CollectA basking shark, new for 2021. This is my first shark by CollectA, and my first review of a CollectA figure on the ATB.

The basking shark is considered the second largest living shark, second only to the whale shark. Both, along with the megamouth shark, are filter feeders but all evolved the lifestyle independently and are not closely related. In the case of the basking shark, it is the only extant member of its family, the Cetorhinidae, but it does belong to the Lamniformes order along with a diverse assortment of other sharks such as the white shark, megamouth, and goblin shark.

The basking shark is considered a coastal-pelagic species and it inhabits arctic and temperate waters around the world. These large sharks are commonly sighted cruising slowly close to shore and can be quite intimidating in appearance, looking very much like an overgrown white shark to the untrained eye. I’ve seen a few viral video clips of this shark swimming near humans with some sensational clickbait titles suggesting it was a megalodon. The basking shark is also implicated in a lot of sea monster sightings and strandings. In decomposition the softer parts of the basking shark rot away first, leaving a plesiosaur-shaped carcass behind.

Basking sharks can reach a length of 36’ (11 meters) but average around 26’ (7.9 meters) while the CollectA basking shark measures 8.75” (22.22 cm). This puts the figure at about 1/50 in scale for a maximum sized individual or 1/35 for an average sized one.

The CollectA basking shark is presented in a feeding posture with its gigantic hoop-shaped mouth agape. The snout is somewhat bulbous, eyes small, and the five gill slits so long that they nearly encircle the entire head, food is sieved from the water by gill rakers within the slits. Interestingly, basking sharks shed their gill rakers in the late fall and won’t regrow them until late winter. How the basking shark feeds during this time, or if it feeds at all, remains a mystery. Basking sharks also have small, hooked teeth and a rough texture is sculpted along the mouth to imply this. Although useless in adults these teeth may be useful in unborn sharks, who are suspected to feed on unfertilized eggs.

The rest of the body looks much like your standard lamnid shark body plan, which is what often leads to the basking shark’s misidentification as a white shark. The tail is lunate in shape and strongly keeled. The absence of claspers on this figure indicate that this shark is a female. The body is roughly textured with horizontal wrinkles, and grooves etched over the entire hide, helping to convey the basking shark’s large size and thickened skin.

The CollectA basking shark is painted in brown color tones. The edges of the fins, and around the gills, are darker brown and gradually fade lighter elsewhere on the body. The underside is a pale, off-white color with some brown blended in. Darker brown blotches are painted along the flanks. The eyes are black, and the inside of the mouth is a blending of pink and white with the gill slits painted brown. Overall, the paint job is exceptionally well executed on most of the figure. The inside of the mouth is a bit sloppy, however. Basking sharks can vary in color from brown like this one to gray, or nearly black.

Basking sharks get their common name from their tendency to rest at the surface of the water, basking under the sun. In Scotland and Ireland, they used to be called sunfish, but this name is now used for other species, like the Mola mola. Historically, basking sharks were heavily hunted for their leather, meat, and liver oil. Their large size, slow and placid nature, and social habits make them easy to exploit. Basking shark schools can often number in the hundreds.

The basking shark is now listed as endangered by the IUCN, but it still ends up as bycatch or is hunted in various Asian countries for its fins and other parts used in traditional medicine. Like many sharks the basking shark is slow to mature, taking around 12 years for males and 20 years for females. Basking sharks are ovoviviparous and the gestation period, while unknown, is estimated between 14 months and 3 years and pups are born 5’ (1.5 meters) in length.

I have no hesitation in declaring the CollectA basking shark an absolute masterpiece. It’s quite possibly my favorite shark figure in my entire collection and I would count it among the best figures I’ve reviewed thus far. CollectA has a limited selection of sharks and so far, Safari Ltd. seems to have the shark market cornered. If CollectA continues to pump out shark toys like this then they’re going to be giving Safari a run for their money. As far as the basking shark is concerned, there’s no competition. The CollectA basking shark is new for 2021 and retails for about $10.25. If you collect sharks, this is a must have.