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Carcharhinus longimanus  (Poey, 1861)

Oceanic whitetip shark
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Carcharhinus longimanus
Picture by Moldzio, S.


Fiji (Republic of) country information

Common names: [No common name]
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Also Ref. 85272.
National Checklist:
Country Information: httpss://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/fj.html
National Fisheries Authority: https://www.spc.org.nc/coastfish/Countries/fiji/fiji.htm
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Compagno, L.J.V. and V.H. Niem, 1998
National Database:

Classification / Names

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Carcharhiniformes (Ground sharks) > Carcharhinidae (Requiem sharks)
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL

Main reference

Size / Weight / Age

Max length : 400 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 89972); common length : 270 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9253); max. published weight: 167.4 kg (Ref. 40637); max. reported age: 22 years (Ref. 31395)

Length at first maturity
Lm ?, range 180 - 200 cm

Environment

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 230 m (Ref. 58302), usually 0 - 152 m (Ref. 55185)

Climate / Range

Subtropical; 18°C - 28°C (Ref. 244), preferred 28°C (Ref. 107945); 46°N - 43°S, 180°W - 180°E (Ref. 6871)

Distribution

Cosmopolitan (Ref. 26340). Western Atlantic: Maine, USA to Argentina; also in Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean (Ref. 26938). Eastern Atlantic: Portugal to Gulf of Guinea; possibly occurring in the Mediterranean. Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to the Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahiti and Tuamoto islands. Eastern Pacific: southern California, USA to Peru, including the Galapagos. Highly migratory species, Annex I of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (Ref. 26139).
Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Short description

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 0; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 0. A stocky shark with a huge, rounded 1st dorsal fin, and long, wide-tipped pectoral fins; snout bluntly rounded; upper teeth triangular; interdorsal ridge present (Ref. 5578). Back usually dark grey with a bronze tinge, sometimes brown or bluish; belly whitish, sometimes with a yellow tinge; tips off first dorsal, pectorals, and lower lobe of caudal often white or with white spots (sometimes absent); ventral surface of pelvic fins, apices of anal and second dorsal, and ventral lobe of caudal often with black spots; black or dusky saddle-marks in front of second dorsal, upper margin of caudal and between dorsal fins (especially in young) (Ref. 9997).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

An oceanic deep-water species which sometimes comes close to shore (Ref. 244). Found surface to depths of at least 150 m (Ref. 26938). Epipelagic usually over water depths of >184 meters (Ref. 58302). Frequently accompanied by Remora, Coryphaena, pilot fishes (Ref. 30573), and tortoises. Feeds oceanic bony fishes, also threadfins, stingrays, sea turtles, sea birds, gastropods, squid, crustaceans, mammalian carrion and garbage (Ref. 5578), including tuna and mahimahi (Ref. 1602, 37816). Viviparous (Ref. 50449). There is pronounced partial segregation by size and sex in some areas. This is an active, almost fearless shark also charged in human attacks (Ref. 244). Probably responsible for many open-ocean attacks after air or sea disasters (Ref. 6871). Utilized fresh, frozen (Ref. 9987), smoked, and dried-salted for human consumption; hides for leather, fins for fin soup, liver oil for vitamins, also processed into fishmeal (Ref. 244). 1 to 15 young, 60 to 65 cm, are born per litter (Ref. 1602).

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

  Vulnerable (VU) (A2ad+3d+4ad)

Threat to humans

  Traumatogenic (Ref. 244)



Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes

More information

Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
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Genetics
Allele frequencies
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
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Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
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Otoliths
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Internet sources

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805)
PD50 = 0.5000 many relatives (e.g. carps) 0.5 - 2.0 few relatives (e.g. lungfishes)

Trophic Level (Ref. 69278)
4.2   ±0.4 se; Based on diet studies.

Resilience (Ref. 69278)
Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (K=0.1(?); tm=5; tmax=22; Fec=1)

Vulnerability (Ref. 59153)
High to very high vulnerability (75 of 100)
Price category (Ref. 80766)
Medium