Читать книгу Killers in the Water - The New Super Sharks Terrorising The World's Oceans - Sue Blackhall - Страница 7

This shark was nicknamed ‘Lord of the Long Hands’ by famous underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau. Despite being a somewhat sluggish creature, the Oceanic Whitetip is a clever hunter with its pale fins looking like a moving school of fish to its prey, allowing the shark to get close and launch surprise attacks. As we have seen, this shark is not afraid to investigate humans, too.

Description: White-ish tipped fins, sometimes accompanied by white mottling, with the dorsal (back) fin varying in colour depending on its habitat, e.g. bronze to brown in the Red Sea, greyer in the Indian Ocean and the pale beige of Hawaii. White underside. Has broad, triangular, serrated upper teeth with overlapping bases and narrow-cusped lower teeth with serrated tips. Adult male: 1.72–2m (5.6–6.5ft) Adult female: 1.8–2m (6–6.5ft) These sharks can grow to a maximum of 4m (13ft). Diet: Squid, schools of fish, stingrays, seabirds, turtles, dead marine animals (including whale carcasses) and general ocean animal debris.

Habitat: Open ocean, coral and rocky reefs, preferring depths of at least 150m (492ft). Found in the following waters: Central Pacific, Tropical Eastern Pacific, North and South Atlantic, Western North Atlantic, Caribbean, Amazonian, Chilean, Argentinean, Eastern North Atlantic/Mediterranean, West African, Southern African, Central South Indian, Madagascan, Arabian, Indian, Southeast Asian, Western Australia, Southeast Australian/New Zealand, Northern Australian, Japanese.