Family Cetorhinidae

* Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765)—Peixe-frade; Basking shark

Johnson 1885: 202 | Noronha & Sarmento 1934: 110 and 144 | Nobre 1935: 440 (as Selache maxima)

Noronha & Sarmento 1948: 106 | Maul 1948: 138 | Nunes 1953: 138 | Albuquerque 1954 –56: 90 | Springer 1973a: 16 | Sanches 1986: 58 | Carneiro et al. 2014: 10.

Distribution in Macaronesia. Madeira, Azores (Santos et al. 1997; Porteiro et al. 2010), Canary Islands (Brito et al. 2002; Brito Hernández & Sancho Rafel 2003) and Cape Verde (Reiner 1996; Wirtz et al. 2013).

Remarks. in the MMF collection there are a skin dated from 1937 (MMF 606) and a stranded specimen preserved in formalin dated from 2000 (MMF 31368). To our knowledge this was the last documented occurrence of the species in Madeira. Maul (1948) refers the species as occasional visitor.