The islands of Man, the Firth of Clyde, and the Hebrides had been part of a entity known as the Kingdom of the Seas. Founded by Vikings in the 9th century as a loose confederacy, it was eventually absorbed by the Kingdom of Scotland in the 13th century. The Isle of Man is now a self-governing dependency of the British Crown.
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Cetorhinus maximus - The basking shark is one of three extant plankton-eating sharks; the other two are the whale shark and megamouth shark. Adults range from 6 to 8 meters in length and weigh up to 5 metric tons. The basking shark is the second largest fish in the world and found primarily in temperate water zones. It is a filter feeder. Swimming along the surface at a casual pace with mouth wide open, water and plankton enters the mouth and passes through the specialized gill rakers; the water is expelled and the plankton is retained.
