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Eusphyra blochii  (Cuvier, 1816)

Winghead shark
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Image of Eusphyra blochii (Winghead shark)
Eusphyra blochii
Female picture by Harris, M.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Carcharhiniformes (Ground sharks) > Sphyrnidae (Hammerhead, bonnethead, or scoophead sharks)
Etymology: Eusphyra: Greek, eu = good + Greek, sphyra = hammer (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; brackish; benthopelagic; amphidromous (Ref. 51243).   Tropical, preferred ?; 31°N - 20°S, 47°E - 154°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Indo-West Pacific: Persian Gulf to the Philippines, north to China, south to Australia.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 120 - ? cm
Max length : 186 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6871)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 0; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 0. Grey or grey-brown above, paler below. Expanded lateral blades of head very narrow and wing-like, with a series of small bumps along edges in front of nostrils; width across head 40 or 50% of total length. Nostrils enormously expanded, each nearly 2 times the mouth head (Ref 13562).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found in shallow water on continental and insular shelves (Ref. 244). Enters estuaries (Ref. 4832). Feeds mainly on small teleost fishes but also takes crustaceans and cephalopods (Ref. 13562). Viviparous (Ref. 50449), with 6 to 25 pups in a litter (Ref. 6871). Has a remarkable wing-shaped head which is nearly or quite half of its body length, the function of which is uncertain, maybe for maneuvering or for increasing the surface area of some of the sense organs (Ref. 244). Probably harmless to people (Ref. 13562). Caught commonly, but in low numbers, by inshore gillnet fisheries. Particularly common in catches off Kalimantan (Ref.58048). Probably a common fisheries species where it occurs (Ref. 13562). Meat utilized for human consumption; liver is a source of vitamin oil (Ref. 244). Offal probably utilized for fishmeal (Ref. 13562). Reported to reach 300 cm TL (Ref. 58784).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Viviparous, placental (Ref. 50449), with 6 to 25 in a litter after a gestation period of 8 (Ref.58048) -11 months (Ref. 6871). Size at birth between 32 and 45 cm TL (Ref. 13562).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Compagno, Leonard J.V. | Collaborators

Compagno, L.J.V., 1984. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2 - Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/2):251-655. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 244)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

  Endangered (EN) (A2d+3d)

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless (Ref. 13562)




Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishes of Iran | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 1.0010   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00398 (0.00195 - 0.00812), b=3.26 (3.08 - 3.44), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  4.2   ±0.6 se; Based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (Fec=6).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (63 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.