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Silvertip shark

 
Silvertip Shark

 
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Silvertip shark
 
 
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The silvertip shark, Carcharhinus albimarginatus, is a fairly large species of requiem shark
Requiem shark

The requiem sharks refer to all members of the Carcharhinidae family that includes a family of migratory, live-bearing sharks of warm seas, sometimes also found in brackish or fresh water, such as the tiger shark, blue shark, bull shark, and milk shark....
 native to the tropical
Tropics

The Tropics, seated in the equatorial regions of the world, are limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23?26' N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23?26' S latitude....
 Indian
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
 and Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
s. Named for its distinctive white-margined fins, it is often encountered around offshore island
Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
s and coral reef
Coral reef

Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms. In most reefs the predominant organisms are colonial cnidarian that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate....
s. This species is regarded as potentially dangerous to humans and has been known to act aggressively towards divers
Underwater diving

Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater Scuba diving or without breathing apparatus.Recreational diving is a popular activity ....
 in certain situations. Its specific epithet is derived from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 albi meaning "white", and marginatus meaning "to enclose with a border".

silvertip shark is found in the Indian
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
 and Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
s.






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The silvertip shark, Carcharhinus albimarginatus, is a fairly large species of requiem shark
Requiem shark

The requiem sharks refer to all members of the Carcharhinidae family that includes a family of migratory, live-bearing sharks of warm seas, sometimes also found in brackish or fresh water, such as the tiger shark, blue shark, bull shark, and milk shark....
 native to the tropical
Tropics

The Tropics, seated in the equatorial regions of the world, are limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23?26' N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23?26' S latitude....
 Indian
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
 and Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
s. Named for its distinctive white-margined fins, it is often encountered around offshore island
Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
s and coral reef
Coral reef

Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms. In most reefs the predominant organisms are colonial cnidarian that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate....
s. This species is regarded as potentially dangerous to humans and has been known to act aggressively towards divers
Underwater diving

Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater Scuba diving or without breathing apparatus.Recreational diving is a popular activity ....
 in certain situations. Its specific epithet is derived from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 albi meaning "white", and marginatus meaning "to enclose with a border".

Distribution and habitat

The silvertip shark is found in the Indian
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
 and Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
s. In the western Indian Ocean, it has been reported from the Red Sea
Red Sea

The Red Sea is a salt water inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden....
, off east Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, the Seychelles
Seychelles

Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an archipelago Country of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
, the Aldabra Group
Aldabra Group

The Aldabra Group are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, lying in the southwest of the island nation, 1000 kilometres from the capital, Victoria, Seychelles, on Mah?, Seychelles Island....
, Mauritius
Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius, , is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres east of Madagascar....
, and the Chagos Archipelago
Chagos Archipelago

The Chagos Archipelago is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 individual tropical islands roughly in the centre of the Indian Ocean....
. In the western Pacific, it is known from off southern Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
 to northern Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 and French Polynesia
French Polynesia

French Polynesia is a France overseas collectivity in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory ....
. In the eastern central Pacific, it occurs from southern Baja California
Baja California

Baja California is the northernmost States of Mexico of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California....
 to Colombia
Colombia

Colombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a country in north-western South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the north west by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, including the Cocos, Galapagos, and Revillagigedo Islands
Revillagigedo Islands

The Revillagigedo Islands are a group of four volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, known for their unique ecosystem. They have been part of Manzanillo, Colima Municipalities of Colima of the Mexico mexican state of Colima since 1861, but are nevertheless under Mexican federal jurisdiction, and lie 386 km southwest of Cabo San Luca...
. Its presence in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an oceanic basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba....
 and the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean situated in the mid-latitudes of the Western Hemisphere, bounded to the south and west by the Americas, with the North Atlantic Ocean proper to the northeast and the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest....
 is uncertain.

This species is common to abundant over insular and continental shelves
Continental shelf

The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, and was part of the continent during the glacial periods, but is undersea during Ice age such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas and Bay....
 at a depth of 30-800 meters. It prefers offshore island
Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
s, coral reef
Coral reef

Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms. In most reefs the predominant organisms are colonial cnidarian that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate....
s, and banks, though is not restricted to those habitats. The young are found in shallower water near shore, to avoid predators.

Description

This is a robust and streamlined species, resembling a larger, heavier version of the gray reef shark
Gray reef shark

The gray reef shark, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, is one of the most common sharks in Indo-Pacific waters, from the Red Sea to Easter Island....
 (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos). It has a moderately long, broad snout and large round eyes. There are 12-14 teeth in each jaw
Jaw

The jaw is either of the two opposable structures forming, or near the entrance to the mouth.The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of most animals....
; the upper teeth are broad and coarsely serrated with high triangular cusp
Cusp

Cusp may refer to:*Cusp , a singular point of a curve*Cusp form in modular form theory*Cuspidal representation, a generalization of cusp forms in the theory of automorphic representations...
s, while the lower teeth have erect, broad serrated cusps and transverse roots. The first dorsal fin
Dorsal fin

A wikt:dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of some fish, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, as well as the ichthyosaurs. Its main purpose is to stabilize the animal against rolling and assist in sudden turns....
 is large and triangular, originating above or slightly forward of the free pectoral fin tips, and there is an interdorsal ridge. The pectoral fins are large and semifalchate with narrowly rounded or pointed tips.

The coloration is blue-gray above, sometimes with a bronze sheen, and white below. There is an inconspicuous white band along the flank and distinctive white tips and borders on all fins. It can grow up 3 meters (9.8 feet) in length but more typically measure 2-2.5 meters (6.6-8.2 feet) long. The maximum reported weight is 162.2 kg (358 lbs). Females are larger than males.

Biology and ecology

Silvertip sharks are territorial and may be encountered singly, in pairs, or in small groups. Individual silvertip sharks are said to act very aggressively towards one another, and many are heavily scarred. They are also reported to clearly dominate galapagos shark
Galapagos shark

The Galapagos shark, Carcharhinus galapagensis, is a species of requiem shark that was first named in 1905 after specimens were found in the seas around the Galapagos Islands....
s (Carcharhinus galapagensis) and blacktip shark
Blacktip shark

The blacktip shark, Carcharhinus limbatus, is a large shark, native to the continental shelf and insular shelves of tropical and warm temperate seas around the world....
s (Carcharhinus limbatus) of equal size in group encounters.

Like the gray reef shark, this species is known to perform a characteristic threat display
Shark threat display

Shark threat display, a type of agonistic display, is a behaviour observed in some sharks when they feel threatened or protective. It consists of a contorting of the body into a series of "ritualized" postures coupled with an exaggerated swimming style....
. This display involves the shark turning broadside to the intruder, tensing its muscles, dropping its pectoral fins, lowering the posterior two-thirds of its body, and "shivering
Shivering

Shivering is a bodily function in response to early hypothermia in warm-blooded animals. When the core body temperature drops, the shivering reflex is triggered....
". The last two elements of this display are distinctive for this species.

The silvertip shark feeds mainly on benthic and midwater fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
es, such as wahoo
Wahoo

The wahoo is a dark blue Scombridae fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. Its speed and high-quality flesh make it a prize game fish....
, wrasse
Wrasse

The wrasses are a family , Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with about 500 species in 60 genera....
s, eagle ray
Eagle ray

Eagle rays are a family of mostly large batoidea living in the open ocean rather than at the bottom of the sea.The taxonomy of this group is uncertain; it is placed either in the order Myliobatiformes or Rajiformes....
s, and tuna
Tuna

Tuna are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tunas are fast swimmers?they have been clocked at 70 km/h ?and include several species that are warm-blooded....
, as well as cephalopod
Cephalopod

The cephalopods are the mollusc class Cephalopoda characterized by bilateral symmetry, a prominent head, and a modification of the mollusk foot, a muscular hydrostat, into the form of cephalopod arms or tentacles....
s. The differently shaped dentition
Dentition

Dentition is the tooth development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth.All mammals except the monotremes, the xenarthrans, the pangolins, and the cetaceans have up to four distinct types of teeth, with a maximum number for each....
 in their upper and lower jaws allows them to grip and tear off chunks of flesh with violent twists and turns. They have been observed swimming around the periphery of groups of feeding sharks of other species, occasionally dashing in to grab food. This species has been known to follow ships, possibly because they are attracted to certain artificial, low-frequency sound
Sound

Sound is vibration transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a threshold of hearing to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations....
s.

Like other requiem sharks, the silvertip shark is viviparous, with the young nourished by a yolk sac
Yolk sac

The yolk sac is a membranous sac attached to an embryo, providing early nourishment in the form of yolk in bony fishes, sharks, reptiles, birds, and primitive mammals....
 placenta
Placenta

The placenta or afterbirth is a highly vascularized ephemeral organ present in Placentalia vertebrates that connects the developing fetal tissues to the uterine wall....
. Litters of 1 to 11 (usually 5 or 6) young are birthed in the summer after a gestation period
Gestation period

I.H The gestation period in a viviparous animal is the length of its gestation. In humans this is 266 days , but varies for other animals.Gestation period is measured from fertilisation to birth....
 of about one year. The newborns measure 63-68 cm long. Males mature at 160-180 cm long and females at 160-199 cm. Females have been observed with mating wounds, including having the tip of the first dorsal fin bitten off.

Relationship to humans

This species is regarded as potentially dangerous to humans; there is one unprovoked attack attributed to it listed in the International Shark Attack File
International Shark Attack File

The International Shark Attack File is a global database of Shark#Shark attackss. It began as an attempt to catalogue shark attacks on servicemen during World War II....
. In one bait experiment, a large silvertip shark tore off the leg of a dummy dressed in SCUBA
Scuba

Scuba is an acronym for self contained underwater breathing apparatus. It may also refer to:* Scuba diving, the use of a self-contained breathing set to stay underwater for periods of time...
 gear, demonstrating that this species is capable of inflicting fatal injuries. Though usually indifferent to the presence of divers
Underwater diving

Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater Scuba diving or without breathing apparatus.Recreational diving is a popular activity ....
, they are known to become extremely aggressive in the presence of bait. They may also react boldly if approached incautiously.

The silvertip shark is taken by tuna and shark longline
Longline

Longline can mean:-* Longline fishing* Long line * Long line * Aerial crane, i.e. using a helicopter to lift a heavy object...
 and gillnet
Gillnet

Gillnetting is a common fishing method used by fishing industry fishermen of all the oceans and in some freshwater and estuary areas. Because gillnets can be so effective their use is closely monitored and regulated by fisheries management and enforcement agencies....
 fisheries and is becoming rare in many parts of its range. It is utilized for its fins (highly valued for shark fin soup
Shark fin soup

Shark fin soup is a delicacy that has been a popular item of Chinese cuisine since the Ming Dynasty, usually served at special occasions such as weddings and banquets....
), meat
Meat

In modern English usage, meat most often refers to animal biological tissue used as food, mostly skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also refer to offal, including livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, in some countries lungs, and a variety of other internal organs as well as blood....
, skin
Skin

The skin is the outer covering of the body, also known as the epidermis. It is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial biological tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and organ s....
, and cartilage
Cartilage

Cartilage is a type of dense connective tissue. It is composed of specialized cells called chondrocyte that produce a large amount of extracellular matrix composed of collagen fibers, abundant ground substance rich in proteoglycan, and elastin fibers....
. The World Conservation Union
World Conservation Union

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is an international organization dedicated to natural resource Conservation ethic....
 assessed this species as Data Deficient
Data Deficient

Data Deficient is a category applied by the IUCN to a species when the available information is not sufficient for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made....
, except in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 where it is not exploited and assessed as of Least Concern
Least Concern

Least Concern is an World Conservation Union category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category....
.

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