Tour boat captures amazing footage of huge shark in Scotland

Tour boat captures basking shark in Scotland footage

A tour boat company in Scotland has captured beautiful up-close footage of a huge basking shark.

Basking Shark Scotland, a company launched by marine biologist Shane Wasik, filmed the shark off the north west coast of Scotland using an underwater camera and an overhead drone.

The video also features other beautiful wildlife in the area, including seals and dolphins.

Speaking to the Press and Journal, Wasik said: We're super excited about the footage, we have been collecting it during the season but there is always anticipation over the end of season video. Our 2013 video was really good but adding in the aerial dimension gives a completely new perspective.

"Using drones is certainly the new fashion for film-making at the moment but the results can be superb as you can see."

According to Wikipedia, the basking shark is the second-largest living fish, after the whale shark, and one of three plankton-eating sharks besides the whale shark and megamouth shark.

It is a migratory species, found in all the world's temperate oceans. Adults typically reach between 20ft and 26ft. Despite this large size and potentially intimidating appearance, basking sharks are not aggressive and are harmless to humans.

It has long been commercially hunted as a source of food, shark fin, animal feed, and shark liver oil. Over-exploitation has reduced its populations to the point where some have disappeared and others need protection.