Galeorhinus galeus
Tope Shark [+]

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Elasmobranchii
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Triakidae
Genus: Galeorhinus
species: Galeorhinus galeus
+ITIS +WoRMS +Conservation Status

Description & Behavior

The tope shark, Galeorhinus galeus (Linnaeus, 1758), aka liver-oil shark, Miller's dog, oil shark, penny dog, rig, school shark, snapper shark, soupfin, soupie, southern tope, sweet william, tiburon, tope shark, toper, vitamin shark, measures up to 1.93 m in length and weighs up to 45 kg. This shark is reported to live up to 55 years. The tope shark has a long, pointed snout, large mouth, and small sharp, blade-like teeth. The second dorsal fin is close in size to the anal fin. This shark is gray in color with a white ventral side. Juveniles often have black markings on their fins.

World Range & Habitat

The tope shark, Galeorhinus galeus, is a widely distributed shark found in: the western Atlantic from southern Brazil to Argentina, in the eastern Atlantic from Iceland to South Africa, the Mediterranean, western Indian Ocean to South Africa, the southwest Pacific in Australia and New Zealand, central Pacific in Hawaii, the eastern Pacific from British Columbia to southern Baja California and the Gulf of California in Mexico.

The tope shark is commonly found near continental shelves, but can also be found in coastal waters and out to waters up to 550 m deep. This species forms small schools that are highly migratory in the higher latitudes of their range.

» GBIF occurrence data in Google Earth [Requirements | Tips] | Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) [World Map] | [about]

Feeding Behavior (Ecology)

The tope shark, Galeorhinus galeus, feeds on fishes (bottom as well as pelagic species), cephalopods, crustaceans, echinoderms, and worms.

Life History

The tope shark, Galeorhinus galeus, is ovoviviparous (fertilized eggs develop in the female) without a yolk-sac placenta. Litter size ranges from 6-52 pups and increases according to the size of the mother. Newborn pups measure 30-36 cm at birth. In Australia, newborns and juveniles aggregate in nurseries found in shallow waters and move into deeper coastal waters during winter after which they return to the nursing grounds. Spawning frequency for the tope shark is once yearly. Ovulation occurs in early summer. The gestation period is about one year.

Comments

The tope shark, Galeorhinus galeus, is considered harmless to humans. It is a popular game and aquarium fish and is hunted commercially for its meat, liver oil, fins, and for fishmeal. The tope shark is frequently caught on tuna longlines. The tope or soupfin shark is taken for export to the Asian market for making shark fin soup. In 1937 it was determined their livers were one of the richest natural sources of vitamin A. During World War II soupfins were especially valuable as a source of this necessary vitamin. Prices skyrocketed and and soupfin populations declined dramatically. Following World War II, the synthesis of vitamin A in laboratories reduced the fishing pressure on soupfins.

The tope shark is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:

VULNERABLE (VU)
A taxon is Vulnerable when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Vulnerable (see Section V), and it is therefore considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

References & Further Research

BioOne ~ CITES ~ Discover Life ~ GBIF ~ Google Scholar ~ ITIS ~ IUCN RedList ~ MarineBio Network ~ NCBI ~ SCIRIS ~ SIRIS ~ Tree of Life Web Project ~ Wikipedia

Description Tope Shark - Galeorhinus galeus - Florida Museum of Natural history
Star Thrower Educational Multimedia

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Citation: Galeorhinus galeus, Tope Shark - MarineBio.org. Retrieved , from .

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Galeorhinus galeus Tope Shark [+]