Negaprion brevirostris
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Carcharhiniformes (Ground Sharks)
Carcharhinidae (Requiem Sharks)
Negaprion
Negaprion brevirostris (Lemon 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
Stout body, short blunt snout, relatively low caudal fin with well-developed ventral lobe, internasal width greater than preoral snout length, broad and triangular anterior nasal flap, very short upper labial furrows, 31-33 tooth rows in upper jaw, 29-31 in lower jaw, teeth in anterolateral section of upper jaw with narrow smooth slightly oblique cusps and serrated bases, moderately long gill slits, pectoral and first dorsal fin tapering distally, origin of first dorsal fin above or slightly posterior to posterior free tip of pectoral fin, second dorsal fin about four-fifths height of first dorsal fin, no ridge between dorsal fin bases, caudal peduncle lacks keel
Yellowish brown or olive gray dorsally, yellowish ventrally
Distribution
New Jersey to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans, from near shore to 92 m, occasionally in freshwater
Biology
Mollusks, crustaceans, elasmobranchs, bony fishes, sea birds
Maximum known length is 340 cm TL
Viviparous with yolk sac placenta, litters range from 4 to 17 young, males mature at 224 cm TL, females mature at 239 cm TL, young are 60 to 65 cm TL at birth
Occurs on continental and insular shelves, frequenting mangrove fringes, coral keys, docks, sand or coral mud bottoms, saline creeks, enclosed bays or sounds, and river mouths. May enter fresh water. Occasionally moves into the open ocean, near or at the surface, apparently for purposes of migration. May rest motionless on the bottom (Ref. 9710). May occur singly or in small groups. Feeds mainly on fish but also takes crustaceans and mollusks. Viviparous, with 4 to 17 young in a litter. Size at birth 60 to 65 cm. Has been involved in several attacks on people. Meat is utilized for human consumption, hides for leather, fins for shark-fin soup base, liver oil for vitamins, and carcasses for fish meal. Marketed fresh, dried-salted and frozen (Ref. 9987).
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable (VU), assessed 2020-09-04. Resilience: Very low (K=0.54(?); tm=12.7; tmax=25; Fec = 4-17; rmax = 0.012).
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
Springer 1938
Springer 1950b
Springer 1960
Springer 1963
Bigelow and Schroeder 1948a
Clark and von Schmidt 1965
Hoese and Moore 1977
Applegate et al. 1979
Castro 1983
Branstetter 1984
Compagno 1984
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Bonfil et al. 1990
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
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.
Wetherbee, B.M., S.H. Gruber and E. Cortes (1990) Diet, feeding habits, digestion, and consumption in sharks, with special reference to the lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris. p. 29-47. In H.L. Pratt, Jr., S.H. Gruber and T. Taniuchi (eds.) Elasmobranchs as living resources: advances in the biology, ecology, systematics, and the status of the fisheries. NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 90. 517 p.
Castro, J.I. (1993) The shark nursery of Bulls Bay, South Carolina, with a review of the shark nurseries of the southeastern coast of the United States. Environ. Biol. Fishes 38(1-3):37-48.
Cortés, E. and S.H. Gruber (1990) Diet, feeding habits and estimates of daily ration of young lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris (Poey). Copeia 1990(1):204-218.
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.
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