🤯 Did You Know (click to read)
Before modern regulations, basking shark liver oil was widely harvested for industrial uses and lighting.
The basking shark possesses an enormous oil-rich liver that can account for up to 25 percent of its total body weight. In the largest individuals, this liver can weigh over a metric ton, providing buoyancy control that helps the shark remain suspended in the water column without a swim bladder.
💥 Impact (click to read)
A single basking shark liver can weigh more than an entire grand piano and approaches the mass of a small car. This massive organ is filled with low-density oils such as squalene, allowing the shark to conserve energy while slowly cruising vast ocean distances in search of plankton blooms.
The scale of this adaptation highlights the extreme physiological engineering required for large marine animals to survive in deep and open waters. Historically, the high oil content made basking sharks targets for commercial hunting, nearly pushing some populations toward collapse before international protections were enacted.
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
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