A fisherman off the coast of Norway encountered a truly massive shark . . . and likely suddenly realized how big boat his boat isn’t. The shark, a basking shark, is a member of the second-largest fish species in the world. The basking shark the fisherman encountered was calmly curious about his small fishing boat, and the man filming, Jan Alec Pultr, didn’t seem intimidated by the shark’s large size. In fact, he was thrilled by the sighting.
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“Once in a lifetime encounter,” wrote Pultr in his now-viral video. The footage has over 6.6 million views on Instagram, and many different media outlets have picked it up, sharing it far and wide.
Basking sharks are the second-largest sharks, next to whale sharks, but they don’t pose a threat to humans. These sharks eat tiny plankton by filtering them from the ocean water. Their size can appear intimidating, though, since they can grow to be 40 feet long. (They also sometimes swim around with their mouths agape, which is admittedly pretty freaky.)
Watch a fisherman film a massive basking shark here:
Header stock image of a basking shark by Gerard Soury/Getty Images
