Australian blacktip shark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| iAustralian blacktip shark | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Carcharhinus tilstoni (Whitley, 1950) |
The Australian blacktip shark, Carcharhinus tilstoni, is a requiem shark of the family Carcharhinidae, found in the Indo-West Pacific oceans between latitudes 10° N and 28° S, from the surface to 150 m. Its length is up to about 2 m.
The Australian blacktip shark is currently known only from the continental shelf of tropical Australia. It is very similar to Carcharhinus limbatus and reliably distinguished only by biochemical studies and vertebral counts.
It is found throughout the water column but usually near the sea bed during the day and near the surface at night. It prefers teleost fishes but also feeds on cephalopods to a lesser degree. It is viviparous. It forms large aggregations. It is utilized for its meat and fins, although the flesh has a relatively high mercury content.
Coloration is dark grey, ashy blue or dusky bronze on the back, the belly being white or yellowish white. There is a dark band extending rearward along each side to about over the origin of the pelvic fin, the tips of the pelvic fins have a persistent black spot.
[edit] References
- "Carcharhinus tilstoni". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
