Pigeye shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis)

Classification (WoRMS)

Full classification as recorded by WoRMS: Kingdom: Animalia · Phylum: Chordata · Class: Elasmobranchii · Order: Carcharhiniformes · Family: Carcharhinidae · Genus: Carcharhinus.

Accepted name: Carcharhinus amboinensis · Authority: (Müller & Henle, 1839) · Taxonomic status: accepted · AphiaID: 217340.

Synonyms and superseded combinations recorded for this taxon: Carcharhinus ambioensis (Müller & Henle, 1839); Carcharias amboinensis Müller & Henle, 1839; Carcharias brachyrhynchos Bleeker, 1859; Carcharias henlei Bleeker, 1853; Carcharinus amboinensis (Müller & Henle, 1839); Triaenodon obtusus Day, 1878.

Source: World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=217340 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-25.

Biology and life history (FishBase)

Measured values published by FishBase for Carcharhinus amboinensis. Only fields the database actually holds for this species are shown; these are database values, not aquarium guidance.

Maximum length: 280 cm · Depth range: 0–150 m · Habitat zone: reef-associated · Body shape: fusiform / normal · Vulnerability index: 90 of 100 · Fishery importance: minor commercial · Aquarium trade: never/rarely.

FishBase notes: An inshore species of the continental and insular shelves, commonly inhabiting shallow waters close inshore, near the surf line and along beaches (Ref. 244). It also occasionally enters brackish water (Ref. 127434), and may be found in shallow bays and estuaries, as well as off the open coast but not ascending rivers (Ref. 9997). Predominantly demersal but found throughout the water column (Ref. 6871).

Feeds on pelagic and demersal bony fishes, sharks and rays, squid, shrimps, cuttlefish, octopi, lobsters, gastropods and mammalian carrion (Ref. 5578, 9997). Viviparous (Ref. 50449). Potentially dangerous but not recorded in shark attacks to date (Ref. 9997). Utilized fresh and dried-salted for human consumption (Ref. 9997).

Source: FishBase species summary (SpecCode 862) — https://www.fishbase.se/summary/Carcharhinus-amboinensis.html (CC BY-NC 3.0 — non-commercial use only). Accessed 2026-09-25.

Distribution and occurrence records (GBIF)

12,014 georeferenced occurrence records for Carcharhinus amboinensis are published through GBIF from 19 countries or marine areas. The map above plots 23 distinct locations from a sample of 3,000 records, omitting 25 inland records that carry an institution's coordinates rather than a collection site; it shows where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.

Most records by country or area: Australia (11,890); Oman (40); Cameroon (17); South Africa (15); Bangladesh (12).

The full country table, WoRMS marine regions and the sampling notes are on this species' Distribution page.

Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2418028) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2418028&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=217340 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-25.

Conservation status (IUCN Red List)

The IUCN Red List assesses Carcharhinus amboinensis (Müller & Henle, 1839) as Vulnerable (code VU). No trend, population estimate or threat analysis is given here, because none is available from this source without the Red List API; follow the source link for the full assessment, including its date.

Source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (taxon 39366) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/39366/0; GBIF IUCN Red List category endpoint (taxonKey 2418028) — https://api.gbif.org/v1/species/2418028/iucnRedListCategory. Accessed 2026-09-25.

Description and natural history (Wikipedia)

The pigeye shark is an apex predator that mostly hunts low in the water column. It has a varied diet, consisting mainly of bony and cartilaginous fishes and also including crustaceans, molluscs, sea snakes, and cetaceans. This species gives birth to live young, with the developing embryos sustained to term via a placental connection to their mother. Litters of three to thirteen pups are born after a gestation period of nine or twelve months.

Human interactions

Young sharks spend their first few years of life in sheltered inshore habitats such as bays, where their movements follow tidal and seasonal patterns. The pigeye shark's size and dentition make it potentially dangerous, though it has not been known to attack humans. The shark is infrequently caught in shark nets protecting beaches and by fisheries, which use it for meat and fins. The IUCN presently assesses this species as vulnerable.

Taxonomy

German biologists Johannes Müller and Jakob Henle described the pigeye shark and named it Carcharias (Prionodon) amboinensis in their 1839 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen. Later authors reassigned it to the genus Carcharhinus. The type specimen is a stuffed female 74 cm long, originally caught off Ambon Island in Indonesia, from which the specific epithet is derived. Several junior synonyms are known for this species, among them Triaenodon obtusus, which was based on a near-birth pigeye shark foetus.

Fossil teeth of the pigeye shark are known from the Late Miocene of Brunei, representing the oldest known record of the species.

Phylogeny and evolution

Since the pigeye shark so strongly resembles the bull shark, morphology-based phylogenetic studies have considered the two species to be closely related. Neither this nor any other arrangement is strongly supported by molecular phylogenetic research, which to date has been inconclusive regarding this shark's evolutionary relationship to other Carcharhinus species.

Genetic analysis of pigeye sharks across northern Australia suggest that the evolutionary history of this species was affected by coastline changes during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 12,000 years ago). The patterns of diversity found in its mitochondrial DNA are consistent with the repeated splitting and merging of its populations as geographical barriers were alternately formed and inundated. The most recent of these barriers was a land bridge across the Torres Strait that reopened only some 6,000 years ago; as a result, significant genetic separation exists between the sharks found off Western Australia and the Northern Territory and those found off Queensland.

Description

The pigeye shark is a very robust-bodied species with a short, broad, and rounded snout. The small and circular eyes are equipped with nictitating membranes. The anterior rims of the nostrils bear medium-sized flaps of skin. The mouth forms a wide arch and has barely noticeable furrows at the corners.

There are 11–13 (usually 12) upper and 10–12 (usually 11) lower tooth rows on each side; in addition, there are single rows of tiny teeth at the upper and lower symphyses (jaw midpoints). The teeth are broad and triangular with serrated edges; those in the lower jaw are slightly narrower, more upright, and more finely serrated than those in the upper. The five pairs of gill slits are of moderate length.

The first dorsal fin is large and triangular, with a pointed apex and a concave trailing margin; it originates roughly over the posterior insertions of the pectoral fins. The second dorsal fin is less than a third as high as the first, and originates ahead of the anal fin. There is no midline ridge between the dorsal fins. The long pectoral fins are broad and slightly falcate (sickle-shaped), becoming narrow and pointed at the tips.

The anal fin has a sharply notched trailing margin. The caudal peduncle has a deep notch on its upper surface at the caudal fin origin. The caudal fin is asymmetrical, with a well-developed lower lobe and a longer upper lobe with a notch in the trailing margin near its tip.

The skin is covered by rather large dermal denticles, which become more tightly packed and overlapping with age; each denticle bears three to five horizontal ridges and five posterior teeth. This species is grey above and white below, with a faint pale band on the flanks.

The second dorsal fin and lower caudal fin lobe darken at the tips, particularly in juveniles. An albino individual was caught off Queensland in 1987, which was the first known example of albinism in a requiem shark. An adult pigeye shark typically measures 1.9 - 2.5 m long, while the largest individuals reach 2.8 m long.

The pigeye shark can be most reliably distinguished from the bull shark by the number of precaudal (before the caudal fin) vertebrae (89–95 in C. amboinensis versus 101–123 in C. leucas). Externally, it has a greater size difference between its dorsal fins (first-to-second height ratio >3.1:1 versus ≤3.1:1 in C. leucas) and the notch in its anal fin margin forms an acute angle (versus a right angle in C. leucas). This species also usually has fewer tooth rows in the lower jaw (10–12 on each side versus 12–13 in C. leucas).

Though widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical marine waters of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania, the pigeye shark does not appear to be common anywhere. Existing records are patchy, and the full extent of its range may be obscured by confusion with the bull shark. In the eastern Atlantic, it is found off Cape Verde and Senegal, and from Nigeria to Namibia; there is a single Mediterranean record from off Crotone, Italy. It occurs all along the continental periphery of the Indian Ocean, from eastern South Africa to the Arabian Peninsula (including Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Mauritius), to Southeast Asia and northern Australia.

Its range extends into the Pacific, northward to the Philippines and southern China, and eastward to New Guinea and some Micronesian islands. Tagging and genetic data indicate that pigeye sharks, particularly juveniles, are not strongly migratory and tend to remain in a local area. The longest recorded distance covered by an adult is 1080 km.

The pigeye shark inhabits coastal waters down to a depth of 150 m, favouring environments with fine sediment and murky water. It sometimes enters estuaries, but unlike the bull shark, it does not ascend rivers and avoids brackish water. The movements and habitat usage of juvenile pigeye sharks have been extensively studied in Cleveland Bay in northeastern Queensland. Young sharks live in the bay year-round, staying mostly in the eastern side where the input from three rivers produces strong currents and high turbidity.

Individual home ranges are relatively small, averaging 30 km2, and increase in size with age. The juveniles generally stay in water less than 40 m deep, with the youngest sharks spending the most time in the shallowest parts of the bay. They swim into the intertidal zone with the rising tide and depart as the tide recedes; this movement may relate to exploiting foraging opportunities on the submerged mud flats, or to avoiding predation or competition by staying out of the deeper waters occupied by larger sharks.

There is also an annual movement cycle where the juveniles move closer to the river mouths during the dry season and farther from them during the wet season; since the rainy season brings a higher flow of fresh water into the bay, the sharks may be responding directly or indirectly to the resultant decrease in salinity and dissolved oxygen levels.

The pigeye shark is a largely solitary animal, though occasionally several individuals may be found at the same location. In the Mozambique Channel, it outnumbers the bull shark on the east side while the opposite is true on the west side, suggesting there may be competitive exclusion between these similar species. Parasites documented from the pigeye shark include the myxosporean Kudoa carcharhini, the copepods Pandarus smithii and P. cranchii, and the tapeworms Callitetrarhynchus gracilis, Cathetocephalus sp., Floriceps minacanthus, Heteronybelinia australis, Otobothrium australe, O.

Source: Wikipedia: Pigeye shark — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeye_shark (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-25.