Galeocerdo cuvier
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Carcharhiniformes (Ground Sharks)
Carcharhinidae (Requiem Sharks)
Galeocerdo
Galeocerdo cuvier (Tiger 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.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
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Characters
Stout body, short blunt snout, moderately high caudal fin with well-developed ventral lobe. Preoral snout length equal to internasal width. Anterior nasal flap poorly developed. Upper labial furrows very long, nearly reaching anterior margin of eye. 18-26 tooth rows in upper jaw, 18-25 in lower jaw. Teeth with broad, curved, heavily serrated cusps and deep notch along lateral margin. Gill slits relatively large. Pectoral and first dorsal fin taper distally. Origin of first dorsal fin above or slightly anterior to axil of pectoral fin. Second dorsal fin about two-fifths height of first dorsal fin, origin slightly anterior to origin of anal fin. Prominent ridge between dorsal fins, low keel on caudal peduncle.
Bluish or greenish gray to black dorsally, yellow or white ventrally. Dorsal surface of specimens less than 200 cm covered with dark spots on a lighter background. In larger specimens, spots fuse into vertical bars. In largest specimens, bars are faded.
Distribution
Massachusetts to Uruguay
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Tropical to temperate seas from inshore to the edge of the continental and insular shelves
Biology
Large variety of marine life, including jellyfishes, tunicates, mollusks, crustaceans, elasmobranchs, bony fishes, sea snakes, sea turtles, marine iguanas, sea birds, and marine mammals
Maximum known size is 7.4 m TL, although more questionable records range up to 9.1 m TL
Ovoviviparous. Litters range from 10 to 82 young. Males mature at 226-290 cm TL, females mature at 300-350 cm TL. Young range from 51-76 cm TL at birth.
Usually found near surface to depths of 140 m (Ref. 26938); in Tahiti from 0-350 m (Ref. 89972). Occurs on or adjacent to continental and insular shelves, frequenting river estuaries, off wharves and jetties in harbors, and in coral atolls and lagoons (Ref. 244). Bottom-associated, sometimes pelagic (Ref. 58302). Also off oceanic islands far from other islands and continental land masses (Ref. 244). Makes excursions in the open ocean, but is not a truly oceanic species (Ref. 244). Nocturnal feeder on other sharks, rays, bony fishes, marine mammals, tortoises, seabirds, sea snakes, squids, gastropods, crustaceans, detritus (Ref. 9997), also including toxic or armored fish species such as Lactoria cornuta or Diodon hystrix, porpoises, whales, sea turtles, cephalopods, domestic animals and humans (Ref. 37816). It also feeds on carrion and garbage, including cans, pieces of metal and burlap bags (Ref. 26938). Second only to Carcharodon carcharias in recorded attacks on humans with at least 27 documented attacks sourced to it . One specimen, reportedly taken off Indo-China, weighed 3,110 kg and measured 740 cm (Ref. 9987). May be kept in an aquaria, but does not last for more than a few months (Ref. 244). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 50449). Up to 80 young of 51 to 104 cm are born per litter (Ref. 1602). Valued for its meat, fins, hide and liver oil (Ref. 9997) and also for its jaws and cartilage (Ref. 58048). Often used for fishmeal (Ref. 9997). Utilized fresh, dried-salted, smoked and frozen (Ref. 9987). Species from the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea has a max size of 750 cm TL (Ref. 47613).
IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened (NT), assessed 2018-08-10. Resilience: Low (tm=4-11; tmax=50; K=0.18-0.6; Fec=10).
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
Baughman and Springer 1950
Springer 1960
Springer 1963
Clark and von Schmidt 1965
Hoese and Moore 1977
Applegate et al. 1979
Castro 1983
Branstetter 1984
Compagno 1984
Branstetter and McEachran 1986b
Branstetter et al. 1987
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.
Schneider, W. (1990) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Field guide to the commercial marine resources of the Gulf of Guinea. Prepared and published with the support of the FAO Regional Office for Africa. Rome: FAO. 268 p.
Randall, J.E. (1992) Review of the biology of the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). Aust. J. Mar. Freshwat. Res. 43(1):21-31.
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.
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.
Vidthayanon, C. (2005) Thailand red data: fishes. Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, Bangkok, Thailand. 108 p.
Love, M.S., C.W. Mecklenburg, T.A. Mecklenburg and L.K. Thorsteinson (2005) Resource inventory of marine and estuarine fishes of the West Coast and Alaska: A checklist of North Pacific and Arctic Ocean species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Seattle, Washington, 98104.
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