Oceanic white-tipped shark
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Chondrichthyes
Order:Carcharhiniformes
Family:Carcharhinidae
Genus:Carcharhinus
Species:longimanus
Binomial name
Carcharhinus longimanus

The oceanic white-tipped shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) is a large pelagic shark of tropical and warm temperate seas.

Distribution

Worldwide in tropical and warm temperate (> 18°C) seas, presence in the Mediterranean unclear (some references say it is present, others say it is not). Usually found in open sea (pelagic), only rarely approaches the coast.

Appearance

A stocky, "typical" shark body, with long pectoral fins (hence the specific name longimanus, which is scientific Latin for "long-handed"). Dorsal fin conspicuously rounded. Bronze or grey dorsally, white ventrally ; the tip of the dorsal and pectoral fins is white. The teeth of the upper jaw are triangular and serrated, those in the lower jaw are narrow, somewhat fang-like.

Maximal size 4 m, usually not more than 3 m, maximal weight 170 kg.

Diet

Like all sharks, C. longimanus is a predator. It feeds mainly on pelagic cephalopods and bony fish, but will also eat carrion.

Behaviour

C. longimanus is usually solitary, groups are formed when several inividual converge on a food source, where feeding frenzy can occur. There seems to be a segregation by sex and size, at least in some parts of the world. Whitetips are reported to follow schools of large fish such as tuna or marine mammals such as dolphins and pilot whales. Variously described as slow, and lazy, but also as inquisitive and stubborn, a clear consensus is that this species is highly unpredictable.

Reproduction

Viviparous (young fed in utero by a placental sac), with litter size varying from 1 to 15 young. Sexual maturity is reached near a length of 1.75 to 2 m for males and females, respectively.

Importance to humans

It is one of the most frequent sharks found in deep oceanic regions, and so is a commercially important species. It is also one of the few species known to attack humans and one of only 4 to have been proven to kill humans. It is normally harmless for swimmers and divers, but preys on shipwrecked, it was the fear of ship wrecked seamen in the pacific during the second world war.

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