Carcharhinidae

1
Carcharhinidae

• Requiem sharks

2
Carcharhinidae characteristics

• 5 gill slits
• 2 dorsal fins
• No fin spines
• Caudal fin w/ strong ventral lobe
• Mouth behind eyes
• Round eyes w/ nictitating eyelids
• Long arched mouth w/ bladelike teeth
• Short labial furrows
• Mostly unpatterned

3
Characteristic cont.

• Mostly medium to large
• 100-300 cm
• Some smaller
• 100
• Active strong swimmers
• More nocturnal
• Some dusk and dawn
• Ram ventilators buccal pumpers

4
Behavior

• Some solitary
• Some socialize in small groups
• Some social schooling spp.
• Some segregate by size, sex and/or age
• Clear hierarchical dominance b/t spp.
• Oceanic whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus)
  dominate silky sharks
• Silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) dominate
  grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos)

5
Taxonomy

• Order Carcharhiniformes
• Family carcharhinidae
• 12 genera (8 monotypic)?
• 50 spp. (31 are in genus Carcharhinus)?
• Examples include
• Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)?
• Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas)?
• Blacktip reef (Carcharhinus melanopterus)?
• Sharpnose sharks (Rhizopriondon spp.)?
• Lemon Shark (Negaprion brevirostris)?

6
Distribution

• Temperate and tropical seas
• Majority tropical continental shelves offshore
• Some coral reefs
• Some deep water
• Benthopelagic
• Pelagic-Blue Shark (Prionace glauca), Oceanic
  Whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus), Silky Shark
  (Carcharhinus falciformis)
• All over the world

7
Worldwide distribution
8
Feeding

• Wide variety
• Teleosts
• Crustaceans
• Mollusks
• Elasmobranchs
• Seabirds
• Reptiles
• Marine mammals

9
Reproduction

• Most placental viviparous
• Galeocerdo cuvier is ovoviviparous (aplacental
  viviparity)
• Biennial or triennial reproductive cycle

10
Tiger shark different than other Carcharinidaes
Carcharinidae
Tiger shark
11
Status

• Important in commercial, subsistence and sports
  fisheries
• used for
• Food
• Liver oil
• Fins-especially blue shark
• Skin
• Ecotourism
• Have bitten people
• Caught as bycatch
• Red list mixed from data deficient threatened to
  endangered many near threatened

12
Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)
13
Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)
14
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas)
15
Dusky (Carcharhinus obscurus)
16

• Dusky shark Carcharhinus obscurus

                                               
             
17
Lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris)
18
Whitecheek shark jaw(Carcharhinus dussumieri)
19
Oceanic Whitetip shark (Carcharhinus
longimanus)
20
Blue shark (Prionace glauca)
21
Blue Shark (Prionace glauca)
22
Silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis)
23
Silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis)
jaw
24
Shark finning

• Annually 100 million sharks killed
• 2 of shark body is fins
• 32 tons 30,000 sharks
• 32-328 per pound of shark fin
• Sold for 100 a bowl
• Thought to increase vital energy, nourish blood,
  improve kidney and lung function
• Actually potential for mercury poisoning

25
New laws

• NOAA banned shark finning in 2004 in Atlantic
• NMFS enacted Shark finning Prohibition Act in
  2000
• China is main consumer

26
Shark finning
27
How sad!
28
(No Transcript)
29
shark fin, get your shark fin
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32

• Shark's Fin Soup 
• Serves 6
• 4 dried black mushrooms
• 2 scallion stalks
• Fresh ginger root
• 16-oz shark's fin (the shinier the better)
• 2 tbsp sherry
• 4 cup water
• 1 chicken breast
• 2 scallion stalks
• 3 tbsp oil
• 5 cup stock
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sherry
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 cup Stock
• Soak dried mushrooms. Trim scallion stalks slice
  ginger root and combine in a pan with canned
  shark's fin, sherry and water. Bring to a boil,
  then simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Drain shark's
  fin, discarding liquid, scallions and ginger
  root. Meanwhile skin, bone and shred chicken
  breast. Shred soaked mushrooms cut remaining
  scallions in 2-inch sections. Heat oil. Brown
  scallion sections lightly and discard. Add
  chicken shreds and stir-fry until they lose their
  pinkness (about 1 minute). Add stock, salt,
  shark's fin, mushrooms, and remaining sherry.
  Bring to a boil then simmer, covered, 30
  minutes. Blend cornstarch and remaining cold
  stock then stir in to thicken soup, and serve,
  enjoy.

33
Literature cited

• Compagno, L.M. Dando, and S. Fowler. 2005. Sharks
  of the world.Princeton University Press,
  Princeton, NJ. Pp288-322
• Whitney NM, Crow GL. 2007. Reproductive biology
  of the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) in
  Hawaii. Marine Biology. 151 (1).pp63-70
• Yokota K, Kiyota M, Minami H.2006.Shark catch in
  a pelagic longline fishery Comparison of circle
  and tuna hooks. Fisheriess Research. 81.pp
  337-341.
• Clarke SC, McAllister MK, Milner-Gulland EJ, et
  al.2006.Global estimates of shark catches using
  trade records from commercial markets .Ecology
  Letter 9.pp 1115-1126

34
Literature cited

• Campana SE, Marks L, Joyce W, et al.Effects of
  recreational and commercial fishing on blue
  sharks(Prionace glauca) in Atlantiv Canada, with
  inferences on the North Atlantic
  population. 2006. CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FISHERIES
  AND AQUATIC SCIENCES 63 .pp 670-682
• IUNC 2006. 2006 IUCN red list of threatned
  species. At http//www.iuncnredlist.org