If you’ve been on TikTok recently, you might have spotted a strange yet spectacular phenomenon occurring off the coast.
Hundreds of basking sharks have been seen breaching the water near the shores of Ireland in what can only be described as ‘nature at its most raw and powerful’ best.
And don’t worry, it could even happen close to home, as basking sharks have been known to do similar around our coastlines, too.
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— Visit Galway (@visit_galway) April 26, 2026
Why do basking sharks breach?
Breaching behaviour is something we are lucky to encounter during the summer months. It occurs in the Irish Sea and also off the coast of Scotland.
Whilst we are unsure of why basking sharks breach, there are some theories for this behaviour.
According to BaskingSharksScotland: “It was thought that basking sharks could be breaching to dislodge parasites, as seen in whales.
“Basking sharks are often sighted with parasitic lampreys, but research we contributed to discovered that parasites were not dislodged during breaching, which makes this theory unlikely to be the reason.”
Researchers from the University of Exeter deployed satellite tags on sharks in the Hebridean Sea, which revealed new insights into the breaching behaviour of basking sharks.
The three sharks tagged made 67 breaches in 41 days, which revealed the speed, repeatability, and times of day that this occurred.
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How often do basking sharks breach?
Seeing a basking shark breach is very much a ‘right place, right time’ moment – and there are very few who have been lucky enough to capture this on film or camera.
The University of Exeter team found that the three sharks they tagged could breach as often as six times a day.
Sometimes, these breaches occurred in quick succession; one individual was recorded making four breaches in 47 seconds.
Have you ever seen a basking shark breaching before? Let us know in the comments below.