GENERAL DESCRIPTION Thresher sharks are
Lamniformes (or mackerel sharks) whose tail fin has a greatly elongated upper lobe. They are very strong swimmers who can vaults completely
out of the water.
Common threshers have a countershaded body, dark blue-gray above and white underneath. It has small jaws, but can use its
tail to corral and even kill fish. The first dorsal fin is much, much bigger than the second; the pectoral fins are curved.
Like other mackerel sharks, it has an anal fin, 5 gill slits, 2 dorsal fins, no fin spines, mouth behind the eyes, and no
nictitating eyelids. It is a very strong swimmer and can even leap out of the water. It is mostly nocturnal (most active at
night).
SIZE The Common Thresher shark ranges from 16.5 to 20 ft (5 to 6
m) long.
HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION The Common Thresher Shark swims from the surface to a depth
of about 1,150 feet (350 m). It lives in open tropical and temperate waters, including the eastern and western Atlantic, the
central Pacific, and the Indo-west Pacific.
TEETH AND DIET The Thresher eats
squid and fish, corraling them with its elongated tail, stunning them with slaps from it, and catching them with its very sharp
(but small) teeth.
THRESHER SHARK ATTACKS The Common Thresher Shark
is not aggressive, but can be provoked. The thresher's large tail can injure divers.
SPEED
AND SWIMMING The Common Thresher Shark a very strong swimmer and can even leap out of the water.
REPRODUCTION Threshers reproduce via aplacental viviparity; the eggs hatch inside the female. The developing embryos are ovophagous; they will eat smaller, weaker siblings while in
the womb. Mature females (at least 10 feet (3 m) long have litters of 4 to 6 pups, bearing live young. These pups are 3.5
to 5 ft (1.1 to 1.5 m) long at birth.
POPULATIONS The Common Thresher is decreasing
in numbers because of overfishing (it is hunted for meat and its fins).
THRESHER SHARK CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom Animalia (animals) Phylum Chordata SubPhylum
Vertebrata (vertebrates) Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) Subclass
Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) Order Lamniformes Family Alopias Genus Alopias Species
vulpinus
Oceanic, sometimes inshore, surface to moderate depths
Distribution Map:
Telltale Features
An incredibly huge tail or caudal fin that's about 50% of the body length.
Web Pictures
Info
The threasher sharks are cannibals from the very beginning where they eat their brothers and sisters inside their mother.
The thresher shark eats schooling fish, such as herring and mackerel and cephalopods such as squid. The large caudal fin is used to slap the surface of the water forcing fish to form tighter schools; the tail can then be used as a whip to stun
or kill the prey. These sharks have been known to leap out of the water, which is possible as their massive caudal fin allows them to shoot through the water in great bursts of speed. The largest ever as roughly 6m.
