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As Above So Below
'It's like real life Jaws!' US Coast Guard spot 20-FOOT shark swimming beside their boat off the coast of Maine
This is the moment a 20-foot shark was filmed swimming off the coast of Maine by a US Coast Guard crew on a search and rescue mission.
The shark was filmed moving beside the rescue craft for about 20 seconds in Boothbay Harbor before turning away and heading into the distance.
Crew members who filmed the animal on their cell phones originally thought it was a Great White, but naturalists later identified it as a harmless basking shark.
WHAT ARE BASKING SHARKS?
Basking sharks are the second-largest fish alive after whale sharks. While they typically grow to 20-26 feet long, they’ve been known to hit staggering lengths of up to 32 feet.
But, these giants are relatively harmless to humans. According to the NOAA, they ‘are considered passive and no danger to humans other than that posed by their large size and rough skin.’
They feed on zooplankton, swimming slowly just beneath the surface with their mouths open in a terrifyingly wide gape to filter the tiny organisms from seawater.
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