Blacktip Reef Shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy & Gaimard 1824)
A Blacktip Reef Shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus, in Palau. Source: Klaus Stiefel / Flickr: pacificklaus. License: CC BY Attribution-Noncommercial
A small reef shark commonly found in shallow inshore waters where it is frequently encountered by humans. Although not usually dangerous, Blacktip Reef Sharks may attack the legs or feet of people wading in shallow water, especially if cornered.
Differs from other sharks with black fin tips in having a white margin around the black areas. this is especially on the first dorsal fin. Body yellowish-brown, whitish below with a dark stripe fro below the first dorsal fin to above the pelvic fin.
Video of Blacktips Reef Sharks mating in the Raja Ampat Islands.
Blacktip Reef Sharks feeding at Mirihi in the Maldives
Lots of Juvenile Blacktip Reef Sharks at Aow Leuk, Koh Tao, Thailand
Blacktip Reef Sharks at Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Blacktip Reef Shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy & Gaimard 1824)
More Info
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Distribution |
Recorded in Australia from Shark Bay, Western Australia, to Moreton Bay, Queensland, and reefs in the Coral Sea; also Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere, the species occurs in the tropical, Indo-west-central Pacific. The Blacktip Reef Shark is one of the most abundant reef-associated sharks on many shallow reefs of the Indo-Pacific. |
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Feeding |
Carnivore - typically feeds on small fishes, molluscs and crustaceans (Frisch et al. 2016). |
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Fisheries |
Although taken regularly in some areas, the Black Tip Reef Shark is not targeted in major fisheries and is of little commercial importance. |
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Conservation |
IUCN Red List : Near Threatened |
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Species Citation |
Carcharias melanopterus Quoy & Gaimard, 1824, Voyage Uranie Physicienne: 194, pl. 43, figs 1-2. Type locality: Pulau Waigeo, Papua Barat, Indonesia (as Vaigiou). |
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Author |
Dianne J. Bray |
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Resources |
Blacktip Reef Shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy & Gaimard 1824)
References
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Chin, A., Tobin, A.J., Heupel, M.R. & Simpfendorfer, C.A. 2013. Population structure and residency patterns of the blacktip reef shark Carcharhinus melanopterus in turbid coastal environments. Journal of Fish Biology 82, 1192–1210.
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