‘Holy Sugar!’: Rare, enormous shark spotted near P.E.I.

A deep sea fishing charter had a rare encounter with a basking shark – in PEI’s New London Bay.

Don Gauthier and friends were on a deep-sea fishing charter in New London Bay, close to French River, P.E.I., when something emerged from the deep.

“Holy sugar,” says a passenger in the video submitted by Gauthier. “Look at the size of that thing.”

Seconds later, a fin broke the surface of the water.

A rare basking shark swam alongside the boat long enough for everyone to get a great look at the enormous fish. Gauthier said he estimated it was between 20 and 30 feet long.

The captain of the fishing charter told his clients he hadn’t seen one of the rare sharks since the 1990s.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada says the basking shark is the second largest fish in the world, after the whale shark. They are recognized by their conical snout, large gill slits and wide mouths. They are historically abundant off British Columbia, says DFO.