BASKING SHARK PICTURE: Giant Stranded on Long Island @ 隆古貝利

basking-shark (1).jpg

The mouthy basking shark is a filter-feeder. It is the second-largest shark, after the whale shark, reaching lengths up to 33 feet (10 meters).

For decades, that's what scientists have been doing each winter, when basking sharks mysteriously disappear from the cool waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Now the baffled experts have at least part of the answer: Giant basking sharks from New England take tropical vacations.

Previously thought to inhabit only temperate waters, a new study shows that the sharks, which grow up to 32 feet (10 meters) long, make vast migrations to deep, warm-water hideouts.

Before the annual winter disappearance, scientists tagged 25 basking sharks off New England with floating, timed-release satellite transmitters.

Swimming at depths of between 600 and at least 3,000 feet (200 and 1,000 meters), some of the fish moved to Florida. But others kept on going south—thousands of miles, in some cases.

"When a tag popped up in the Caribbean Sea, I was really blown away," said study co-author Gregory Skomal, a marine biologist from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

Even more surprising: One shark crossed the Equator to the mouth of the Amazon River off Brazil, where the fish stayed for a month, according to the study, published online today by the journal Current Biology.

A reportedly 20-foot-long (6-meter-long) basking shark that washed ashore on a beach on New York's Long Island on Tuesday appears to have died from some kind of illness

New York State Parks official George Gorman said researchers will examine the basking shark to determine a cause of death. After that, it will be buried in nearby sand dunes on the beach.

Basking sharks are common in the waters off Long Island. The giant washed ashore on a town beach a few miles east of Jones Beach State Park, a popular recreation area for New York City-area residents.

Basking sharks are the world's second largest fish, after whale sharks, and can grow up to 32 feet (10 meters) long. Despite their giant mouths, the sharks are not considered dangerous and feed mainly on plankton. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the giant sharks as vulnerable to extinction.

After examining the basking shark, Tracy Marcus of Cornell University's Long Island-based Sport Fishing Education Center said the shark weighs about a ton. She said it is unusual for an ailing basking shark to come ashore. Usually they die in the ocean.