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Silky Shark
Image by Robbie N. Cada (former FishBase staff member) - License: Public Domain. (view image details)
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SILKY SHARK FACTS |
Description
The Silky Shark is a large slender shark with a long rounded snout and low ridge between the dorsal fins. It is grey, blue grey or dark brown above with white underside. The first dorsal fin is uniformly coloured. The other fins may have dusky tips. It has long pectoral fins. The teeth in upper jaw are triangular and serrated. The teeth in the lower jaw are slender and smooth-edged.
Size
length to 3.5m. Weight to 346kg
Habitat
Common in deepwater reefs, near the edge of continental shelves and island shelves, open sea and sometimes inshore. Has been found at depths of 4000m
Food
Feeds mainly on fish. Also squid, paper nautiluses, crabs
Breeding
Viviparous. Gives birth to 2 to 14 pups per litter. Young are 73cm - 87cm at birth.
Range
The Silky Shark is found in tropical and warm temperate waters worldwide. In Australia it is found from south-western Western Australia, around Northern Territory, Queensland and south to central New South Wales.
Notes
It is a fast moving and aggressive shark and considered dangerous to humans.
Classification
| Class: | Chondrichthyes | | Order: | Carcharhiniformes | | Family: | Carcharhinidae | | Genus: | Carcharhinus | | Species: | falciformis | | Common Name: | Silky Shark |
Relatives in same Genus
Grey Whaler Shark (C. amblyrhynchos)
Bull Shark (C. leucas)
Blacktip Reef Shark (C. melanopterus)
Dusky Shark (C. obscurus)
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