Cetorhinidae is a
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
filter feeding
Filter feeders are aquatic animals that acquire nutrients by feeding on organic matters, food particles or smaller organisms (bacteria, microalgae and zooplanktons) suspended in water, typically by having the water pass over or through a spe ...
mackerel sharks, whose members are commonly known as basking sharks. It includes the extant
basking shark
The basking shark (''Cetorhinus maximus'') is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark. It is one of three Planktivore, plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Typically, basking sh ...
, ''Cetorhinus'', as well as two extinct
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
, ''
Caucasochasma'' and ''
Keasius
''Keasius'' is an extinct genus of basking sharks that lived during the Cenozoic. It contains four valid species, which have been found in North America, Europe, and Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populate ...
''.
References
Cetorhinidae
Extant Eocene first appearances
Shark families
Taxa named by Theodore Gill
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