Shark
Oceanic Whitetip Shark
Carcharhinus longimanus
A bold, blunt-finned wanderer of the open ocean, identified by the rounded white-tipped fins - an extremely rare inshore visitor here.
Also known as oceanic whitetip, whitetip
- Typical size
- Commonly 2-3 m
- Habitat
- Open ocean, rarely inshore
- Depth
- Surface to ~200 m
The oceanic whitetip is a pelagic requiem shark of the open sea, marked by long, paddle-like pectoral fins with mottled white tips. Slow-cruising but persistent and fearless, it is famous for investigating anything in its sparse blue-water world.
It is essentially an offshore species, so on these coastal reefs it is noted only as a very rare stray, far from its usual deep-ocean haunts. Once one of the most abundant large animals on earth, it has declined steeply and is now globally threatened.