Longfin mako
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| Isurus paucus Guitart Manday, 1966 |
The longfin mako, Isurus paucus, is a large shark of the Lamnidae family, found in temperate and tropical seas worldwide. It is commonly called just mako, although that name is shared with the closely related shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus.
The longfin mako's full-grown length is over 4 m, and it has a dark bluish back and white underside. The pectoral fins are about as long as the head or longer, relatively broad-tipped in young and adults. The snout is usually narrowly to bluntly pointed, usually not acute. The cusps of upper and lower anterior teeth are straight, with tips not reversed. The caudal fin is lunate, with a very long lower lobe.
The longfin mako's speed has been recorded at over 35 km/h (22 mph), and they can jump up to 6 m (20 ft)in the air.
The longfin mako shark is a yolk-sac ovoviviparous shark, meaning it gives birth to live young who feed from a sac full of yolk in the womb. The gestation period for a mako shark is 15–18 months. Embryos in the female's body consume each other to get nutrients, with only two pups usually produced in a litter. This intrauterine cannibalism is common in sharks.
The name "mako" comes from the Māori language, but the etymology is unclear.[1][2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Maori language - a glossary of useful words from the language of the Maori New Zealand. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
- ^ Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
[edit] References
- "Isurus paucus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. March 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8
