Carcharhinus brevipinna
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Carcharhiniformes (Ground Sharks)
Carcharhinidae (Requiem Sharks)
Carcharhinus
Carcharhinus brevipinna (Spinner Shark)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Moderately slender body; preoral snout length 1.5 to 1.8 times internasal distance; upper labial furrows long and conspicuous; anterior nasal flap poorly developed; upper jaw with 15 to 18 tooth rows, lower jaw with 14 to 17; teeth in anterolateral section of upper jaw narrow, finely serrated, and erect to slightly oblique; gill slits long, longest (third) 3.7% to 5.5% of TL; pectoral fin falcate with narrowly rounded apical tip; origin of first dorsal fin above or slightly posterior to free tip of pectoral fin; second dorsal fin small, less than one-half height of first dorsal fin; ridge between dorsal fin bases lacking; caudal peduncle lacks keel
Gray to bronze dorsally and white ventrally; band of dorsal coloration extends ventrally from level of pectoral fin to pelvic fins; specimens larger than 70 cm TL have black-tipped anal, pectoral, and second dorsal fins, while specimens less than 70 cm TL lack black-tipped fins
Distribution
North Carolina to Florida, the Bahamas, Cuba, the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate seas in coastal waters to 75 m
Biology
Cuttlefishes, squids, octopods, elasmobranchs, and a large variety of bony fishes
Maximum known size is 278 cm TL
Viviparous with a yolk sac placenta; litters range from 3 to 15 young; males mature at 159 to 203 cm TL, females mature at 170 to 200 cm TL, and young are 60 to 75 cm TL at birth
Found on the continental and insular shelves from close inshore to offshore (Ref. 244). Makes vertical spinning leaps out of the water as a feeding technique in which the sharks spins through a school of small fish with an open mouth and then breaks the surface (Ref. 9997). Feeds mainly on pelagic bony fishes, also small sharks, cuttlefish, squids, and octopi (Ref. 244, 5578). Viviparous (Ref. 50449). Forms schools (Ref. 244). Highly migratory off Florida and Louisiana and in the Gulf of Mexico (Ref. 244). Regularly caught in fisheries where found (Ref. 244). Utilized fresh and dried salted for human consumption (Ref. 244). Fins probably used in the oriental shark fin trade, and livers for vitamin oil production (Ref. 9997).
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable (VU), assessed 2020-02-11. Resilience: Very low (Fec=3).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish.
References
Bigelow and Schroeder 1948a
Springer 1960
Clark and von Schmidt 1965
Bass et al. 1973
Hoese and Moore 1977 (as C. maculipinnis)
Applegate et al. 1979
Branstetter 1981
Branstetter 1982
Branstetter 1984
Garrick 1982
Castro 1983
Compagno 1984
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Bonfil et al. 1990
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
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.
Bass, A.J., P.C. Heemstra and L.J.V. Compagno (1986) Carcharhinidae. p. 67-87. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Compagno, L.J.V., D.A. Ebert and M.J. Smale (1989) Guide to the sharks and rays of southern Africa. New Holland (Publ.) Ltd., London. 158 p.
Reiner, F. (1996) Catálogo dos peixes do arquipélago de Cabo Verde. Publ. Avuls. Inst. Port. Invest. Mar. 2:339 p.
Cortés, E. (1999) Standardized diet compositions and trophic levels of sharks. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 56:707-717.
Compagno, L.J.V., D. Dando and S. Fowler (2005) Sharks of the world. Princeton field guides. Harper Collins Publishing Ltd., London. 368 p.
Kurniawan, F., G.B. Satrya and F. Kamalov (2024) Lightweight fish classification model for sustainable marine management: Indonesian case. arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.02278.
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