Carcharhinus longimanus
Average Size – 6 to 8ft
They have large stocky bodies, with beautiful and distinctive white markings on the tips of their fins. They are grayish brown with a white underside.
Oceanic Whitetip Sharks live worldwide in tropical and sub-tropical waters. They are pelagic (open ocean) and can be found around the outer continental shelves in depths of water up to 500ft deep.
Primarily Bony fish and Cephalopods, but sometimes eating larger pelagic fish (Marlins and Tuna), sea birds, other sharks and rays, and marine mammals.
They are usually solitary and slow-moving, they tend to swim closer to the ocean surface.
They are, however, one of the more dangerous sharks. These sharks have been known to attack survivors of ship and plane wrecks at sea and may be responsible for many unrecorded deaths by sharks.
Oceanic Whitetip Sharks also go by many other names, such as: Brown Milbert’s sand bar shark, brown shark, lesser white shark, nigano shark, oceanic white-tipped whaler, and silvertip shark.
They are often mixed up with the Whitetip Reef Shark, which is also a Requiem Shark.
They are the most common ship-following Shark and were referred to as “sea-dogs” in the 16th century.
They are actively sought out by fishermen for their fins, meat, skin and oil, and are considered critically endangered due to this.
