Shark · Vulnerable
Blacktip Shark
About
The blacktip reef shark is a requiem shark in the family Carcharhinidae, instantly recognisable by the bold black tips on its fins. One of the most numerous sharks on the tropical reefs of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, it favours shallow inshore water, and its exposed first dorsal fin is a familiar sight in the region. It usually keeps to reef ledges and sandy flats but will also enter brackish and even freshwater, and typically grows to about 1.6 m.
- Family
- Carcharhinidae
- Avg size
- 150-180 cm
- Habitat
- It occurs throughout nearshore waters of the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific. In the Indian Ocean it ranges from South Africa to the Red Sea, including Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles, then eastward along the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia, taking in Sri Lanka, the Andaman Islands and the Maldives. In the Pacific it extends from southern China and the Philippines to Indonesia, northern Australia and New Caledonia, and reaches many oceanic islands such as the Marshall, Gilbert, Society and Hawaiian Islands and Tuamotu.
- Behaviour
- Often the most abundant apex predator in its habitat, it has an important hand in shaping inshore communities. Its diet is dominated by small bony fish, including mullet, groupers, grunters, jacks, mojarras, wrasses, surgeonfish and smelt-whitings, and groups in the Indian Ocean have been seen driving mullet shoals against the shore to feed more easily. It also takes squid, octopus, cuttlefish, shrimp, crabs and mantis shrimp, and more rarely carrion and smaller sharks and rays.
Where & when
Where & When to See It
Fury Shoals
occasionalYear RoundSmall Giftun
occasionalYear RoundTurft El Shahed
occasionalYear RoundTurtle Reef
occasionalYear RoundUmm Gamar South
occasionalYear RoundAbu Ramada North
occasionalYear RoundEl Fanous West
occasionalYear RoundErg Sabina
occasionalYear RoundErg Somaya
occasionalYear RoundShaab Sabina
occasionalYear RoundUmm Gamar North
occasionalYear RoundAbu Dabbab
occasionalYear RoundBanana Reef
occasionalYear RoundBig Giftun
occasionalYear RoundCareless Reef
occasionalYear RoundEl Fanadir
occasionalYear RoundEl Mina Wreck
occasionalYear RoundElphinstone
occasionalYear RoundHabili Ali
occasionalYear RoundHamda
occasionalYear RoundSha'ab Samadai (Dolphin House)
occasionalYear RoundSha'ab Sharm
occasionalYear RoundShaab Abu Nugar
occasionalYear RoundShaab El Erg
occasionalYear RoundShabrur Um Gamar
occasionalYear RoundMarcus
Near Garden
Ras Zaatar
Fiddle Garden