Blacktip shark

Lore & Background

The blacktip shark was first described by French zoologist Achille Valenciennes as Carcharias (Prionodon) limbatus in Johannes Müller and Friedrich Henle's 1839 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen, with type specimens from Martinique that have since been lost. Its specific epithet limbatus is Latin for 'bordered', referring to the black edges of its fins. Genetic analyses have revealed two distinct lineages: one in the western Atlantic and another in the eastern Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, suggesting that Indo-Pacific blacktip sharks are descended from those in the eastern Atlantic, while western Atlantic sharks became isolated by the widening Atlantic Ocean and the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. These lineages differ in morphology, coloration, and life history characteristics, and the eastern Atlantic lineage may merit species status. Fossil teeth have been found in Early Miocene deposits in Delaware and Florida, as well as Miocene deposits in India and Colombia and Pliocene deposits in Italy.

Reader's Guide

The blacktip shark is of importance to both commercial and recreational fisheries across many parts of its range, with its meat, skin, fins, and liver oil used. It has been assessed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature on the basis of its low reproductive rate and high value to fishers. Normally wary of humans, blacktip sharks can become aggressive in the presence of food and have been responsible for a number of attacks on people. Their demeanor has been described as 'timid' compared to other large requiem sharks, and they consistently lose out to Galapagos sharks and silvertip sharks of equal size when competing for food. If threatened, they perform an agonistic display involving rolling from side to side, lowering pectoral fins, and making sideways biting motions. The species is also known for its spinning leaps out of the water, which may serve to dislodge attached sharksuckers. Both juveniles and adults form groups of varying size, and young spend their first months in shallow nurseries, with females returning to the nurseries where they were born to give birth.

Did You Know?

• Blacktip sharks can temporarily lose almost all their colors during blooms of coccolithophores.
• Females are capable of asexual reproduction in the absence of males.
• The blacktip shark's closest relatives may be the blacknose shark, based on mitochondrial and ribosomal DNA studies.
• The speed attained during its spinning leaps has been estimated to average 6.3 m/s (21 ft/s).