{"id":816078,"date":"2026-10-28T02:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T02:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/816078\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T02:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T02:38:18","slug":"they-brought-this-thing-down-to-a-loading-dock-and-hoisted-it-up-with-a-forklift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/816078\/","title":{"rendered":"“They brought this thing down to a loading dock and hoisted it up with a forklift\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Measuring between around 7\u20139m, basking sharks are too big to study in the lab. So, when scientists wanted to understand what happens inside the heads of these animals during feeding, they got creative: turning to lasers, a forklift truck and hours on YouTube.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marine biologist\u00a0Mason Dean<\/a>, a professor at City University of Hong Kong, is fascinated by how the skeletons of sharks and rays move while they\u2019re feeding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019s particularly intrigued by\u00a0basking sharks<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the second largest shark on the planet. \u201cIt’s an animal that really drastically changes the shape of its head as it feeds,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

As ram filter-feeders, these sharks eat by swimming with their mouths agape as if they\u2019re screaming into the void. This helps them capture tiny prey as water washes over their gills<\/p>\n

This requires an \u201cenlargement of the skeleton, which then increases the whole oral cavity volume to get much more water filtered,\u201d says\u00a0Mike Schindler<\/a>, a PhD student at City University of Hong Kong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BaskingScientists examined a preserved basking shark from Melbourne Museum to learn more about the huge fish. Credit: Museums Victoria<\/p>\n

Studying these behemoths is not easy. Aside from their size, their endangered status prohibits people getting close to them in the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the rare instance a dead shark washes up, researchers must race to dissect the body before it becomes too decomposed. International trade is highly regulated for conservation reasons. All this makes it exceptionally difficult to get hold of well-preserved specimens or study these animals\u2019 anatomy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That could be why Dean couldn\u2019t find much in the literature. “I couldn’t understand where the bits fit in the anatomy, and the way things were positioned,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, his team had to piece together anatomical information from specimens in videos, photos or museum collections. \u201cIt’s a little bit like a yard sale,\u201d he says. Gathering information \u201crequired a detective hunt of going to as many museums as we could,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Dean and colleagues put the word out that they were looking for basking sharks, they heard about a preserved specimen in Melbourne Museum\u2019s collection. Better still, the open-mouthed shark had been laser scanned when it first arrived.<\/p>\n

If this isn\u2019t done when the shark is fresh, the chance is lost forever. \u201cThat\u2019s the only period you can open the mouth,\u201d explains\u00a0Aurora Li,<\/a>\u00a0a researcher at University College London. Once the tissues are hardened in fixative, it\u2019s too late. \u201cYou can never open it again without permanently damaging the specimen.\u201d<\/p>\n

To understand how the mouth moves, they also needed a closed-mouth scan, which had never been taken. So, they had to remove the gigantic animal from its storage tank.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team used a forklift to move the enormous basking shark head. Credit: Museums Victoria<\/p>\n

Dean remembers everyone coming out to see the leviathan being hauled out for its scan. \u201cThey brought this thing down to a loading dock and hoisted it up with a forklift,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even with these scans, they wanted to examine the deep grooves between the shark\u2019s gills. \u201cThe gill arches, compared to other sharks, are extremely elongated,\u201d says Schindler. \u201cIt looks like an accordion.\u201d<\/p>\n

One way of peeping inside a basking shark\u2019s mouth is by swimming beside one while feeding. \u201cMaybe one of the few advantages of working with a basking shark is that it holds one body position for a very long time,\u201d says Dean. If it swims by while someone is filming, they can capture lots of different views as it passes. \u201cThen you can actually reconstruct something that can be analysed in three dimensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

This approach isn\u2019t hugely practical. Even if they did manage to find a feeding shark to film, it\u2019s difficult to get a clear picture inside the mouth. \u201cThere’s so many bits, so many corners that are hard to look at unless you get exactly the right view, and the right specimen, and the right lighting,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, they did what any good scientist would do: spent hours scrolling through social media. \u201cI ended up spending a ridiculous amount of time just checking divers videos on YouTube,\u201d says Li. She wasn\u2019t just doomscrolling. She was \u201ctrying to find the best angle from, like, 0.5 seconds of information just to see what’s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BaskingBasking sharks are the second largest fish in the world. Credit: Museums Victoria
\n\"BaskingBasking sharks can grown up to 12m long. Credit: Museums Victoria<\/p>\n

The team also reviewed other medical scans, some of which Dean had collected earlier in his career. For example, while visiting family, an opportunity popped up to scan a basking shark head from a nearby museum collection. \u201cWe loaded the shark into the trunk of her car and took it to a CT scan place that I’d somehow made a connection with,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

One of these scans contained high resolution images that allowed the researchers to see exactly where the basking shark\u2019s broom-like filter goes within the animal’s skeleton. This highly unusual filter is unique in sharks and rays. It\u2019s \u201cthis weird bristle-like structure with little hooks on the bottom,\u201d says Dean. The scans allowed them to \u201ctrack the hooks as they fit into the skeleton,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BaskingResearchers examining the basking shark’s mouth. Credit: Museums Victoria<\/p>\n

By combining all the YouTube stills to create a 3D model and putting this together with their other data, they created a \u2018digital puppet\u2019 reconstructing the skeleton of a feeding basking shark. They estimated that the shark\u2019s throat expands by around 450% when it is feeding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their paper, which is supported by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), is published in\u00a0The Anatomical Record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This project wouldn\u2019t have been possible without carefully preserved museum specimens and scientists from all different disciplines working together, says Dean.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team is in touch with professional videographers and museums around the world to continue solving the mysteries of basking sharks\u2019 mouths. Li adds: \u201cIf anyone works in a museum that happens to have a basking shark head, please let Mason and Mike know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BaskingScientists think the basking shark’s throat expand by around 450% when it is feeding. Credit: Museums Victoria<\/p>\n

More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n

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