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Carcharhinus falciformis

Silky Shark
NS G3 NS SNR
Collection Details

Specimens

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Taxonomic Hierarchy

Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes) Carcharhiniformes (Ground Sharks) Carcharhinidae (Requiem Sharks) Carcharhinus Carcharhinus falciformis (Silky Shark)

Description

This species account was compiled from Composite (multiple sources) (Carpenter, K.E. (ed.) 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Synonymy

Carcharhinus floridanus Bigelow, Schroeder, and Springer, 1943 / Carcharhinus obscurus (Lesueur, 1818).

Characters

Large, with an elongate and slender body. Eyes moderately large, internal nictitating lower eyelids present. Snout narrowly rounded, moderately long, preoral length 1.2 to 1.6 times internarial space; anterior nasal flaps low or rudimentary; labial furrows very short. Upper teeth with relatively narrow cusps well delimited from the heavy, serrated bases, their outer edges notched; teeth in lower jaw erect, their edges only slightly serrated; anteroposterior tooth row counts 14 to 16/14 to 17 on each side, total tooth row counts 31 to 37/30 to 37. Spiracles absent; gill sl its moderately long, height of third gill slit about 2.9 to 3.6% of total length; gill arches without papillae. First dorsal fin moderately high, height 5.2 to 8.1% of total length; first dorsal fin with a broadly convex anterior margin, a broadly rounded apex, an origin behind the free rear tips of the pectoral fins, and the midlength of its base somewhat closer to the pecto- ral-fin insertions than the pelvic-fin origins or almost equidistant between them; second dorsal fin very low and much sm aller than the first dorsal fin, height 1.4 to 2.1% of total length; second dorsal fin with a sh allowly concave posterior margin, an origin about over that of anal fin, an elongated, slender free rear tip, and an in- ner margin usu ally twice the height of the fin or more; anal fin with a deeply notched posterior margin and without long preanal ridges; pectoral fins long and falcate, more so in adults than in young. Interdorsal ridge present between dorsal fins; no keels on caudal peduncle. Precaudal vertebral centra 98 to 106, total vertebral centra 199 to 205. Colour: back dark grey, greyish brown, or bluish black (in life); belly greyish or white.
Body shape: fusiform / normal. A large, slim shark with a moderately long, flat and rounded snout, large eyes, small jaws, and oblique-cusped teeth with serrations; 2nd dorsal fin low and with greatly elongated rear tip (Ref. 5578). Grey or bluish-grey above, white below; no conspicuous fin markings (Ref. 5578). Only Carcharhinus species with an interdorsal ridge that has the dorsal fin origin behind the free rear tip of the pectoral fin (Ref. 26938).

Distribution

Circumglobal in all warm seas. Widespread in the area, from Delaw are Bay and Bermuda to sou thern Brazil, abundant or for- merly abundant in the Gulf of Mexico, off south- ern Florida and around the Antilles.

Habitat Associations

Inhab its subtropical and tropical oceanic waters near and beyond the conti- nental slopes, but also in coastal waters on continental and insular shelves in waters as little as 18 m deep. Usu ally live near the surface, but occur sometimes to at least 500 m. Number of young 2 to 14 per litter. Feeds chiefly on fishes, including tunas, also squids and pelagic octopods. May occasion ally bite people. Caught mainly offshore near the continental slopes, with less abundant catches in coastal waters. Separate statistics not reported. Caught mainly with pelagic and bottom longlines, purse seines, gill nets, and hook-and-line. Its meat used fresh or dried-salted, its hide for lea ther, its fins for shark-fin soup, and its liver is extracted for oil, which has a high Vitamin A con- tent. Vulnerable to overexploitation.

Biology

Maximum about 3.3 m total length, common to 2.5 m; size at birth 70 to 87 cm; males maturing at about 187 to 217 cm and females at 213 to 230 cm.
Found abundantly near the edge of continental and insular shelves, but also in the open sea and occasionally inshore (Ref. 244). Often found in deepwater reefs and near insular slopes (Ref. 244). Littoral and epipelagic, in the open sea or near the bottom at 18-500 m (Ref. 58302). It is quick-moving and aggressive (Ref. 244). Solitary (Ref. 26340); often associated with schools of tuna (Ref. 244). Feeds mainly on fishes, but also squid, paper nautiluses, and pelagic crabs (Ref. 244; 37816). Viviparous (Ref. 50449). Regarded as dangerous to humans (Ref. 9997). Flesh utilized fresh and dried-salted for human consumption; its hide for leather; its fin for shark-fin soup; its liver for oil (Ref. 244). 2 to 14 young, 73 to 87 cm, are born per litter (Ref. 1602).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: internal (oviduct); mating system: monogamy; bearers (internal live bearers); parental care: maternal. Viviparous, placental (Ref. 50449). 2-15 pups (Ref. 6871, 37816) born at 57-87 cm TL (Ref. 9997); 1-16 pups born at 55-72 cm TL. Females appear to breed every year, but there appears to be no reproductive seasonality (Ref. 58048). Distinct pairing with embrace (Ref. 205).
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable (VU), assessed 2017-09-26. Resilience: Low (rm=0.054; K=0.05-0.15; tm=6-10; tmax=25; Fec=2-14).

Commercial or Environmental Importance

The most important fisheries have been off sou thern Florida, both coasts of Cuba, Mexico (Campeche Bank), and Venezuela.

References

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.
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.
Compagno, L.J.V. and V.H. Niem (1998) Carcharhinidae. Requiem sharks. p. 1312-1360. In K.E. Carpenter and V.H. Niem (eds.) FAO Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific Vol. 2. Rome: FAO.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Bowman, R.E., C.E. Stillwell, W.L. Michaels and M.D. Grosslein (2000) Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NE 155, 138 p.
Florida Museum of Natural History (2005) Biological profiles: silky shark. Retrieved on 26 August 2005, from www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/silkyshark/silkyshark.html. Ichthyology at the Florida Museum of Natural History: Education-Biological Profiles. FLMNH, University of Florida.

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