Bronze whaler

Taxobox
name = Bronze whaler

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image_width = 240px
status = NT | status_system = IUCN3.1
trend = unknown
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Chondrichthyes
subclassis = Elasmobranchii
ordo = Carcharhiniformes
familia = Carcharhinidae
genus = "Carcharhinus"
species = "C. brachyurus"
binomial = "Carcharhinus brachyurus"
binomial_authority = (Günther, 1870)
range_

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range_map_width = 250px
range_map_caption = Range of bronze whaler

The copper shark, bronze whaler, or narrowtooth shark, "Carcharhinus brachyurus", is a large shark of the Carcharhinidae family, found in subtropical seas and oceans worldwide, except the eastern coast of North America and the northern Indian Ocean. Their length is up to about convert|3.5|m|ft and they can weigh up to convert|300|kg.

The bronze whaler has a blunt broad snout, narrow bent cusps on the upper teeth, and no interdorsal ridge. They are gray to bronze in colour on the back, and white below. The fins are similarly coloured except the pelvic fins, which have dusky tips, and the pectoral fins, which have dusky to black tips.

Bronze whalers are often seen close inshore feeding on schooling fish, such as salmon, frequently within the surf zone but they are also found around offshore islands near deep water where they prey on squid as well as pelagic and bottom-dwelling fish.

Reproduction is viviparous and the female will deliver between seven and twenty live pups. Males live for up to thirty years, and females for up to twenty five. It can be dangerous to spearfishers with recently speared fish, and also towards surfers as its prey is often found in the surf. The bronze whaler is a large and potentially aggressive shark that has attacked people. [ [http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/species2.htm ISAF Statistics on Attacking Species of Shark ] ] It is often confused with the dusky shark.

References

* Database entry includes a lengthy justification of why this species is near threatened
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