Carcharhinus brevipinna (Valenciennes, 1839)
Description
Dorsal spines (total): 0; Anal spines: 0. A slender shark with a long, narrow, pointed snout, long gill slits and small, narrow-cusped teeth; first dorsal fin small; no interdorsal ridge; labial furrows longer than in any other grey shark (Ref. 5578). Grey above, white below, with a conspicuous white band on sides; second dorsal, anal, undersides of pectorals and lower caudal-fin lobe black or dark grey-tipped in subadults and adults, but unmarked or nearly so in small individuals (Ref. 9997).
Common Names
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Elasmobranchii
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Carcharhinidae
Genus: Carcharhinus
Species: Carcharhinus brevipinna (Valenciennes, 1839)
Climate Zone
Location
Biology
Found on the continental and insular shelves from close inshore to offshore (Ref. 244). Makes vertical spinning leaps out of the water as a feeding technique in which the sharks spins through a school of small fish with an open mouth and then breaks the surface (Ref. 9997). Feeds mainly on pelagic bony fishes, also small sharks, cuttlefish, squids, and octopi (Ref. 244, 5578). Viviparous (Ref. 50449). Forms schools (Ref. 244). Highly migratory off Florida and Louisiana and in the Gulf of Mexico (Ref. 244). Regularly caught in fisheries where found (Ref. 244). Utilized fresh and dried salted for human consumption (Ref. 244). Fins probably used in the oriental shark fin trade, and livers for vitamin oil production (Ref. 9997).
Habitat
associated