Marine Species Identification Portal : Blacktip shark

Author: (Valenciennes, 1841)

Carcharhinus limbatus (Valenciennes, 1841)

Diagnosis: snout relatively long, slightly rounded at tip; prenarial length equal to or a little less than distance from front of nostrils to front of mouth. Teeth spike-like, serrate above and below; tooth counts

14 or 15-1 to 3-14 or 15
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13 to 15-1 or 2-13 to 15

posterior edge of mandible with a notch (with smooth trailing edge in C. brevipinna). First dorsal fin origin over pectoral fin free tip, the fin height greater than 11% TL, dorsal interspace not more than 2.2 times fin height; inter-dorsal ridge absent; lower caudal lobe approximately half length of upper. Colour: grey to copper-bronze above, white below; all fins tipped with black pigment except anal fin; flanks with narrowing band of grey from over pectorals to origin of pelvics, with corresponding band of white above. Size: to 250 cm TL, common to 170 cm TL.

Habitat: coastal to open waters, common near surface; fast-swimming, known for leaping from water in spiral, making 1 1/2 revolutions and falling back into water on its back. Food: primarily fishes. Reproduction: viviparous, 1 litter every two years, 4-10 pups born at 50-60 cm TL in coastal waters.

Distribution: reported from Madeira; also in Mediterranean, from Tunisia to Israel. Elsewhere, cosmopolitan in temperate and tropical waters.

Complementary iconography. Garman, 1913, pl. 2 (fig. 5-8) | Bigelow & Schroeder, 1948, fig. 62-63 | Poll, 1951, fig. 25-26 | Kato et al., 1967, fig. 67.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Bigelow & Schroeder, 1948: 350 | Setna & Sarangdhar, 1949: 110.

Blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus)