Carcharhinus signatus, Night Shark [+]
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Elasmobranchii
Order Carcharhiniformes
Family Carcharhinidae
Genus Carcharhinus
species: Carcharhinus signatus [+ITIS +WoRMS]
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Description & Behavior
The night shark, Carcharhinus signatus (Poey, 1868), measures about 2.8 m in length and weighs a maximum of 76.7 kg. The night shark is slender in shape with a long, pointed snout, small jaws with serrated upper teeth, and large green eyes. The dorsal fins are low on the body and have long tips. The night shark also has an interdorsal ridge. They are gray-brown on the dorsal side, white on the ventral side.
Similar species include the silky shark and the dusky shark, however both of these sharks lack green eyes when alive. The silky shark also has a more rounded and swept back first dorsal fin. Another species similar in appearance to the night shark is the spinner shark. The spinner shark can be distinguished from the night shark by the absence of the interdorsal ridge.
World Range & Habitat
The night shark, Carcharhinus signatus, is found in subtropical waters 11-16°C and 41°N-41°S in the western Atlantic from Delaware to Florida in the USA, Bahamas, Cuba, southern Brazil, and Argentina. In the eastern Atlantic the night shark is found from Senegal to Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana to Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, and off northern Namibia.
The depth range for the night shark is 275-365 m during the day and 185 m at night. They prefer coastal areas and are also found along the outer continental and insular shelves.
Feeding Behavior (Ecology)
The night shark, Carcharhinus signatus, named for its nocturnal feeding habits, preys on small bony fishes and squid.
Life History
The night shark, Carcharhinus signatus, is viviparous, meaning the embryo develops and is nourished within the female body.
Conservation Status/Additional Comments
The night shark, like most sharks, is harmless to humans.
The night shark, Carcharhinus signatus, is listed as Vulnerable (VU A2abd+3bd+4abd) 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
Night Shark - Carcharhinus signatus - Florida Museum of Natural History
Search the Web for Night Shark » ARKive ~ Ask.com ~ Ask Jeeves ~ bing ~ deviantART ~ dmoz ~ Dogpile ~ Google Images ~ MySpace Images ~ OceanFootage ~ Picsearch ~ StumbleUpon ~ Yahoo! Images ~ YouTube
