Where Blue shark has been recorded
GBIF occurrence records for Prionace glauca, mapped and tabulated by country.
226,064 georeferenced occurrence records with coordinates are published for Prionace glauca through GBIF, from 91 countries or marine areas. This page maps those records and lists where they come from. Occurrence records reflect where people have looked as well as where the species lives, so well-surveyed coastlines are over-represented.
- Georeferenced records
- 226,064
- Countries / areas
- 91
- Mapped locations
- 123
- Records sampled for the map
- 3,000
- Inland records omitted
- 46
- Gbif taxonkey
- 2417940
Countries and areas with the most records (GBIF)
United States of America — 146,726 records; Chile — 49,491 records; Canada — 19,179 records; France — 3,138 records; Australia — 1,547 records; New Zealand — 1,217 records; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — 536 records; Brazil — 453 records; Spain — 391 records; Portugal — 306 records; Greenland — 238 records; Ireland — 142 records; Mexico — 137 records; Faroe Islands — 123 records; Italy — 107 records.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2417940) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2417940&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Marine regions with a WoRMS distribution record
European waters (ERMS scope); North West Atlantic; Mozambican Exclusive Economic Zone; Kenyan Exclusive Economic Zone; Tanzanian Exclusive Economic Zone; Madagascar; Somali Exclusive Economic Zone; Seychellois Exclusive Economic Zone; Mauritian Exclusive Economic Zone; Réunion Exclusive Economic Zone; Comoran Exclusive Economic Zone; Eritrean Exclusive Economic Zone; Aldabra; Chagos; Red Sea; Rodrigues; South Africa (country); Azores Exclusive Economic Zone; Belgian Exclusive Economic Zone; Gulf of Maine; Duinbergen; Greek Exclusive Economic Zone; New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone; Gulf of Mexico; Israeli part of the Mediterranean Sea - Eastern Basin; North Pacific; British Columbia; Canadian Exclusive Economic Zone [Pacific part]; North East Pacific; FAO fishing area 67.
Source: WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105801 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.
How to read this map
The map plots a sample of 3,000 of the 226,064 records, deduplicated to a half-degree grid, so dense areas do not merge into one blob. The sample covers 22 of the 91 countries or areas with records; the areas absent from the sample hold 1,228 records in total (Greenland, Faroe Islands, Ghana, Colombia, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Argentina).
46 records plotting inland were omitted: for a marine species those are almost always the holding institution's coordinates rather than a collection site.
Records show where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2417940) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2417940&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105801 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.
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