Carcharhinidae
Requiem sharks
Carcharhinidae characteristics

5 gill slits
 2 dorsal fins

No fin spines

Caudal fin w/ strong ventral lobe

Mouth behind eyes

Round eyes w/ nictitating eyelids

Long arched mouth w/ bladelike teeth

Short labial furrows

Mostly unpatterned

Mostly medium to large

100-300 cm
 Some smaller

~100

Active strong swimmers

More nocturnal

Ram ventilators & buccal breathers
Behavior

Some solitary

Some socialize in small groups

Some social schooling spp.

Clear hierarchical dominance b/t spp.

Oceanic whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus) dominate silky sharks

Silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) dominate grey reef sharks
(Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos)
Taxonomy

Order Carcharhiniformes
 Family carcharhinidae
 12 genera (8 monotypic)

~50 spp. (31 are in genus Carcharhinus
)

Examples include

Tiger shark
(Galeocerdo cuvier)

Bull shark ( Carcharhinus leucas
)

Blacktip reef (
Carcharhinus melanopterus)

Sharpnose sharks ( Rhizopriondon spp.)

Lemon Shark ( Negaprion brevirostris
)
Distribution

Temperate and tropical seas

Majority tropical continental shelves & offshore


Some coral reefs

Some deep water

Benthopelagic

Pelagic-Blue Shark ( Prionace glauca) , Oceanic Whitetip ( Carcharhinus longimanus ), Silky Shark ( Carcharhinus falciformis )
 All over the world
Feeding
 Wide variety

Teleosts
 Crustaceans

Mollusks
 Elasmobranchs
 Seabirds
 Reptiles
 Marine mammals
Reproduction
 Most placental viviparous
 Galeocerdo cuvier is ovoviviparous
 Biennial or triennial reproductive cycle
Status
 Important in commercial, subsistence and sports fisheries
 used for

Food
 Liver oil

Fins-especially blue shark

Skin

Ecotourism

Have bitten people

Caught as bycatch

Red list mixed from data deficient; threatened to endangered; many near threatened
Literature cited

Compagno, L.M. Dando, and S. Fowler. 2005. Sharks of the world. Princeton University
Press, Princeton, NJ. Pp288-322

Whitney NM, Crow GL. 2007. Reproductive biology of the tiger shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) in Hawaii. Marine Biology . 151 (1).pp63-70

Yokota K, Kiyota M, Minami H.2006.Shark catch in a pelagic longline fishery:
Comparison of circle and tuna hooks. Fisheriess Research. 81.pp 337-341.

Clarke SC, McAllister MK, Milner-Gulland EJ, et al.2006.Global estimates of shark catches using trade records from commercial markets .Ecology Letter 9.pp 1115-1126

Campana SE, Marks L, Joyce W, et al. Effects of recreational and commercial fishing on blue sharks (Prionace glauca) with inferences on the North Atlantic population . CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FISHERIES AND AQUATIC SCIENCES 63. pp 670-682

IUNC 2006. 2006 IUCN red list of threatned species. At http:// www.iuncnredlist.org