What kind of fish is this?

Bruce Gilmartin of Boothbay took these pictures from his boat August 18, over in John’s Bay.

“We were parallel with the entrance to The Tread of Life,” Gilmartin said. “We noticed a shark-like fin above water first. As we drifted closer, the fish swam very close to the swim platform, and we took these pictures. As it swam away, it breached, like a whale, and had a tail the shape of a whale’s tail. It also had webbed fins on the sides. The overall length was probably 8 to 9 feet. We looked up ‘basking shark’ but it did not seem like a good match for the creature we saw. We’d love to know what we saw.”

If there are any fish experts out there that can let the newspaper know what type of fish this is, please contact us.