Blue Shark, Prionace glauca (Linnaeus 1758)
A Blue shark, Prionace glauca, in the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary off southern California . Source: Mark Conlin / Southwest Fisheries Science Center, US NOAA Fisheries Service. License: CC by Attribution
A large, wide-ranging pelagic shark that seldom comes close to shore. Although Blue sharks are not very aggressive and are rarely encountered, they are potentially dangerous to humans.
Identifying features:
Rare glimpse of a Blue Shark from a from remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in 290 m depth.
Great footage of Blue Sharks at the northern California Channel Islands in the 1980s.
Blue Shark, Prionace glauca (Linnaeus 1758)
More Info
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Distribution |
Widespread in Australia, except for the Torres Strait, the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Arafura Sea. Elsewhere found worldwide in all tropical and temperate seas between about 60°N and 50°S. Pelagic in the open ocean over continental shelf and slope waters, from the surface to about 350 metres. Blue sharks reportedly prefer water temperatures between 12-20 deg, and usually inhabit deeper waters in the tropics - they seldom come close to land. |
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Features |
Vertebrae: 239-253 (precaudal 142-150) Body streamlined, slender; caudal peduncle without lateral keels; upper and lower precaudal pits present. Head conical, snout very long with a narrow, rounded tip (length to mouth 7-10% TL); nostrils not connected to mouth by groove; eyes nearly circular; spiracles absent; very short labial furrows on upper jaw only; teeth of upper jaw subtriangular, somewhat longer than wide, serrated, angled obliquely outward; teeth of lower jaw narrower, more erect, finely serrate; five gill slits, last above pectoral fin. No interdorsal ridge. Two dorsal fins, second much smaller than first, origin of first dorsal set well back behind inner corner of pectoral fin by a distance at least equal to that between first and fifth gill slits; anal fin similar to and about opposite second dorsal; caudal fin heterocercal, upper lobe with subterminal notch, lower lobe well developed. Pectoral fins very long, falcate, their length about equal to distance from snout to fifth gill slit in specimens of medium to large size. |
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Size |
To 3.83 m total length. |
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Colour |
Dark indigo blue above, shading to metallic blue on the sides and white below. |
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Feeding |
Carnivores - feed on small pelagic fishes and cephalopods. |
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Biology |
Blue sharks are viviparous, with embryos deriving nutrition through a yolk sac placenta. Females give birth to litters of about 35 pups during spring and summer after a 9-12 month gestation period. The young are born at 35-50 cm TL. Blue sharks are relatively fast-growing, and mature between 4–6 years and both sexes mature by about 2.2 m. |
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Fisheries |
Of no commercial interest in Australia, although taken by sports fishers. Although rarely targetted, Blue Sharks are taken in large numbers as bycatch in longline and driftnet fisheries, especially on the high seas. Australia enacted legislation in 1991 prohibiting Japanese longliners fishing in Australia's EEZ from landing shark fins without the carcass. |
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Conservation |
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Remarks |
Although Blue sharks are potentially dangerous, they are rarely encountered and are not particularly aggressive. |
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Species Citation |
Squalus glaucus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10: 235, European Ocean. |
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Author |
Dianne J. Bray |
Blue Shark, Prionace glauca (Linnaeus 1758)
References
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Bustamante, C. & M.B. Bennett. 2013. Insights into the reproductive biology and fisheries of two commercially exploited species, shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) and blue shark (Prionace glauca), in the south-east Pacific Ocean. Fisheries Research 143: 174-183.
Cailliet, G.M., Martin, L.K., Harvey, J.T., Kusher, D. & Welden, B.A. 1983. Preliminary studies on the age and growth of blue, Prionace glauca, common thresher, Alopias vulpinus, and shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus, sharks from Californian waters. In: E.D. Prince and L.M. Pulos (eds), Tunas, Billfishes, Sharks. Proceedings of an International Workshop on Age Determination of Oceanic Pelagic Fishes, pp. 179-188. NOAA Technical Report NMFS.
Casey, J.G. 1985. Transatlantic migrations of the blue shark; a case history of cooperative shark tagging. In: R.H. Stroud (ed.), Proceedings of the First World Angling Conference, Cap d'Agde, France, September 12-18, 1984, pp. 253-267. International Game Fish Association, Florida, USA.
Compagno, L.J.V. 1984. FAO Species Catalogue. Sharks of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125. Rome : FAO Vol. 4(2) 251-655 pp. [521]
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