Where Oceanic whitetip shark has been recorded
GBIF occurrence records for Carcharhinus longimanus, mapped and tabulated by country.
2,918 georeferenced occurrence records with coordinates are published for Carcharhinus longimanus through GBIF, from 98 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
- 2,918
- Countries / areas
- 98
- Mapped locations
- 884
- Records sampled for the map
- 2,918
- Inland records omitted
- 151
- Gbif taxonkey
- 2418052
Countries and areas with the most records (GBIF)
Australia — 816 records; Brazil — 388 records; Egypt — 167 records; France — 160 records; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — 150 records; United States of America — 108 records; Spain — 57 records; Faroe Islands — 55 records; Portugal — 52 records; Colombia — 46 records; Norway — 43 records; Nigeria — 40 records; Côte d’Ivoire — 32 records; Seychelles — 31 records; Svalbard and Jan Mayen — 31 records.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2418052) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2418052&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; Djiboutian Exclusive Economic Zone; South Africa (country); Gulf of Maine; New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone; Gulf of Mexico; Azores Exclusive Economic Zone; Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone; Western Indian Ocean.
Source: WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105794 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.
How to read this map
The map plots a sample of 2,918 of the 2,918 records, deduplicated to a half-degree grid, so dense areas do not merge into one blob. The sample covers 98 of the 98 countries or areas with records; the areas absent from the sample hold 0 records in total.
151 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 2418052) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2418052&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105794 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Gallery
Related in Oceanic whitetip shark
Links follow this subject's own source article.
Elsewhere in Oceanic whitetip shark
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced