Richard Collins: Irish team discover exciting basking shark fact

Haley Dolton and members of her team at Trinity sailed quietly up to sharks off the Cork coast. Then, using a long pole, they attached muscle-temperature recorders to the backs of the basking giants

Basking sharks can be up to 12m long — they are the largest fish in the North Atlantic, and the second-largest worldwide. Picture: George Karbus

Basking sharks have returned to Keem Bay in Achill, where they were massacred decades ago. There was even a late sighting of one there two weeks ago.

Hunted for the oil in its liver, an liamhán gréine became scarce in Irish waters. But its fortunes have improved; it is being recorded increasingly off our west and southern coasts.