Carcharhinus limbatus, Blacktip Shark [+]
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Elasmobranchii
Order Carcharhiniformes
Family Carcharhinidae
Genus Carcharhinus
species: Carcharhinus limbatus [+ITIS +WoRMS]
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Description & Behavior
The blacktip shark, Carcharhinus limbatus (Müller and Henle, 1839), aka blackfin shark, black-tip shark, black tip shark, blacktip whaler, black-tipped shark, and grey shark, are robust sharks with a moderately long, pointed snout. The first dorsal fin is slightly posterior to the pectoral fins high on the midsection of the body and has a narrow, pointed tip. This species does not have an interdorsal ridge. They are dark gray or blue to brown on the dorsal side with a white ventral side and a white band across the flank. The pectoral fins, first and second dorsal fins, pelvic fins, and lower caudal lobe are black tipped, although the dark coloring tends to fade with age. The anal fins of the blacktip do not have black tips, unlike the similar spinner shark, which often develops black tips on the anal fin as they mature.
The maximum reported length of the blacktip shark is 2.55 m; average adult size is around 1.50 m and weighs about 18 kg. The maximum age of blacktips is thought to be at least 12 years.
World Range & Habitat
The blacktip shark is found in tropical and subtropical coastal, shelf, and island waters in the Atlantic, where they migrate seasonally between Brazil and Nova Scotia; the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, throughout the Mediterranean, and along the central West coast of Africa. In the Pacific they range from Southern California to Peru, including the Sea of Cortez, the Galápagos Islands, Hawaii, Tahiti, and other South Pacific Islands, to the northern coast of Australia. In the Indian Ocean they range from South Africa and Madagascar up to the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, throughout India's coast, and east to the coast of China.
The blacktip shark can be found in both inshore and offshore waters, but they tend to stay close to the coasts at depths of 30 m or less. They are often seen near river mouths, bays, and mangroves, although they do not penetrate far into freshwater.
Feeding Behavior (Ecology)
The blacktip shark feeds on small schooling fishes such as herring, sardines, menhaden, mullet, and anchovies, but also eats catfishes, groupers, jacks, snook, porgies, grunts, croakers, flatfishes, triggerfish, and porcupine fish. They are known to feed on other elasmobranch species such as dogfish, sharpnose sharks, young dusky sharks, skates, and stingrays. Crustaceans and squids are also prey for blacktip sharks.
Like the spinner shark, blacktips have been observed leaping and spinning out of the water, which is likely a feeding behavior. Blacktips attack schools from below at high speed while snapping their jaws to capture prey.
The tiger shark preys on young blacktip sharks.
Life History
The blacktip shark is viviparous, meaning they give birth to live, free-swimming young and nourish them during gestation with a placental sac. Males reach sexual maturity between 1.35-1.80 m, or 4-5 years, females at 1.20-1.90 m, or 6-7 years. Gestation lasts 10-12 months followed by birthing in shallow waters during warmer months. Litter sizes range from 1-10 pups, which remain in the shallow nursing grounds for the first few years to avoid predation. Size at birth is 38-72 cm.
Conservation Status/Additional Comments
The blacktip shark is fished commercially by longlines off the southeast coast of the US, and caught as bycatch in fixed bottom nets and in shrimp trawls. The flesh is sold for human consumption and used for fish meal, and the fins are sold for shark fin soup in Asian markets, a product that is decimating shark populations worldwide. The skin is also used for leather.
Blacktip sharks in the Caribbean are a popular tourist attraction during shark feeding dives along with other species such as Caribbean reef sharks.
The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) has reported 28 unprovoked attacks by blacktip sharks to humans. Attacks were reported in the United States (Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Alabama), the Caribbean (Bahamas and British Virgin Islands), and South Africa. None of the bites resulted in death. Blacktip sharks are responsible for roughly 16% of the attacks that occur in Florida waters, often striking surfers.
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 Blacktip - Carcharhinus limbatus - Florida Museum of Natural History
Elasmodiver :: database of sharks, skates, rays, and chimaera's from around the world
Families Carcharhinidae and Galeocerdidae: Whaler and Tiger Sharks - ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research
Search the Web for Blacktip Shark » ARKive ~ Ask.com ~ Ask Jeeves ~ bing ~ deviantART ~ dmoz ~ Dogpile ~ Google Images ~ MySpace Images ~ OceanFootage ~ Picsearch ~ StumbleUpon ~ Yahoo! Images ~ YouTube
