Carcharhinus falciformis (Müller & Henle, 1839)

Silky shark

Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL

Classification	Elasmobranchii \| Carcharhiniformes \| Carcharhinidae
Synonyms	Carcharias falciformis, Aprionodon sitankaiensis, Carcharhinus atrodorsus, ... more
Common names	Requin soyeux, Tiburón jaquetón, Olive shark, ... more

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AquaMaps Data sources: GBIF OBIS

Main reference

Compagno, L.J.V. 1984. (Ref. 244)
Other references | Biblio | Coordinator : Compagno, Leonard J.V. | Collaborators

Size / Weight / Age

Max length : 350 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9997); common length : 250 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9997); max. published weight: 346.0 kg (Ref. 40637); max. reported age: 25 years (Ref. 31395)

Length at first maturity

L_m 0.22, range 183 - 260 cm

Environment

Reef-associated; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); marine; depth range 0 - 4000 m (Ref. 55180), usually 0 - 500 m (Ref. 6871)

Climate / Range

Subtropical; 23°C - 24°C (Ref. 244); 42°N - 43°S, 169°W - 180°E (Ref. 55180)

Circumtropical. Western Atlantic: Massachusetts, USA to southern Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea to Uruguay (Ref. 58839). Eastern Atlantic: Spain, Madeira to northern Angola; St. Paul's Rocks (Ref. 13121); Cape Verde (Ref. 34514). Indo-Pacific: scattered records from the Red Sea and Natal, South Africa (Ref. 5578) to China, New Zealand, and the Caroline, Hawaiian, Phoenix and Line islands. Eastern Pacific: southern Baja California, Mexico to northern Chile. Highly migratory species, Annex I of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (Ref. 26139).
Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Short description

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Anal spines: 0. A large, slim shark with a moderately long, flat and rounded snout, large eyes, small jaws, and oblique-cusped teeth with serrations; 2nd dorsal fin low and with greatly elongated rear tip (Ref. 5578). Grey or bluish-grey above, white below; no conspicuous fin markings (Ref. 5578). Only Carcharhinus species with an interdorsal ridge that has the dorsal fin origin behind the free rear tip of the pectoral fin (Ref. 26938).

Found abundantly near the edge of continental and insular shelves, but also in the open sea and occasionally inshore (Ref. 244). Often found in deepwater reefs and near insular slopes (Ref. 244). Littoral and epipelagic, in the open sea or near the bottom at 18-500 m (Ref. 58302). It is quick-moving and aggressive (Ref. 244). Solitary (Ref. 26340); often associated with schools of tuna (Ref. 244). Feeds mainly on fishes, but also squid, paper nautiluses, and pelagic crabs (Ref. 244; 37816). Viviparous (Ref. 50449). Regarded as dangerous to humans (Ref. 9997). Flesh utilized fresh and dried-salted for human consumption; its hide for leather; its fin for shark-fin soup; its liver for oil (Ref. 244). 2 to 14 young, 73 to 87 cm, are born per litter (Ref. 1602).


IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 57073)	Threat to humans
Lower Risk: least concern (LR/lc)	Traumatogenic (Ref. 9997)

Human uses
Fisheries: highly commercial


More information
Countries FAO areas Ecosystems Occurrences Introductions Ecology Diet Food items Food consumption Ration	Common names Synonyms Metabolism Predators Ecotoxicology Reproduction Maturity Spawning Eggs Egg development	Age/Size Growth Length-weight Length-length Length-frequencies Morphometrics Morphology Larvae Larval dynamics Recruitment Abundance	Other references Biblio Aquaculture Aquaculture profile Strains Genetics Allele frequencies Heritability Diseases Processing	Collaborators Pictures Stamps Sounds Ciguatera Speed Swim. type Gill area Otoliths Brains Vision

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Internet sources

Estimation of some characteristics with mathematical models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805)

PD₅₀ = 0.5000

Resilience (Ref. 69278)

Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (rm=0.054; K=0.05-0.15; tm=6-10; tmax=25; Fec=2-14)


Vulnerability (Ref. 59153)	Price category (Ref. 80766)
Very high vulnerability (79 of 100)	High

Entered by Carpenter, Kent E.

Modified by Kesner-Reyes, Kathleen

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