Carcharhinus longimanus
Threatened
Collection Details
Specimens
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Carcharhiniformes (Ground Sharks)
Carcharhinidae (Requiem Sharks)
Carcharhinus
Carcharhinus longimanus (Oceanic Whitetip 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
Relatively stout body, short blunt snout, high caudal fin with well-developed ventral lobe, preoral snout length 1 to 1.1 times internasal width, poorly developed anterior nasal flap, short and inconspicuous upper labial furrows, 13 to 15 tooth rows on each side of upper and lower jaws, teeth in anterolateral section of upper jaw with broad, triangular, strongly serrated, and erect to slightly oblique cusps, relatively long gill slits (longest is 3.1% to 4.1% of TL), pectoral and first dorsal fins slightly tapered and broadly rounded, origin of first dorsal fin anterior to posterior free tip of pectoral fin, second dorsal fin large but less than one-half height of first dorsal fin, ridge between dorsal fin bases, caudal peduncle lacks keel
Olive gray to brown dorsally and white to yellow ventrally, pectoral, first dorsal, pelvic, and caudal fins mottled with white in larger specimens, smaller specimens have black blotches on tips of fins and black saddle marks on caudal peduncle
Distribution
Western Atlantic from Maine to Argentina, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate seas near the edge of continental and insular shelves, and in oceanic waters, occasionally in water as shallow as 37 m
Biology
Gastropods, cephalopods, crustaceans, oceanic bony fishes, sea turtles, sea birds, and marine mammals
Maximum known size is 350 to 395 cm TL
Viviparous with a yolk sac placenta, litters range from 1 to 15 young, males mature at 175 to 198 cm TL, females mature at 180 to 200 cm TL, and young range from 60 to 65 cm TL at birth
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: Critically Endangered (CR), assessed 2018-11-07. Resilience: Very low (K=0.1; tm=7; tmax=22; Fec=1).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish.
References
Bigelow and Schroeder 1948a
Springer 1950
Backus et al. 1956
Garrick and Schultz 1963
Bass et al. 1973
Applegate et al. 1979
Castro 1983
Branstetter 1984
Compagno 1984
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
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.
Myers, R.F. (1991) Micronesian reef fishes. Second Ed. Coral Graphics, Barrigada, Guam. 298 p.
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.
Sierra, L.M., R. Claro and O.A. Popova (1994) Alimentacion y relaciones tróficas. p. 263-284. In Rodolfo Claro (ed.) Ecología de los Peces Marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Cortés, E. (1999) Standardized diet compositions and trophic levels of sharks. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 56:707-717.
Bacchet, P., T. Zysman and Y. Lefèvre (2006) Guide des poissons de Tahiti et ses îles. Tahiti (Polynésie Francaise): Éditions Au Vent des Îles. 608 p.
Weigmann, S. (2016) Annotated checklist of the living sharks, batoids and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes) of the world, with a focus on biogeographical diversity. J. Fish Biol. 88(1):1-201. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.12874
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