Silky shark

The silky shark is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae. Reproduction occurs year-round except in the Gulf of Mexico, where it follows a seasonal cycle. Females give birth to litters of up to 16 pups annually or biennially. Silky sharks are valued for their fins, and to a lesser extent their meat, hide, liver oil, and jaws.

About Silky shark in brief

The silky shark is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae. It is one of the most abundant sharks in the pelagic zone, and can be found around the world in tropical waters. Reproduction occurs year-round except in the Gulf of Mexico, where it follows a seasonal cycle. Females give birth to litters of up to 16 pups annually or biennially. Silky sharks are valued for their fins, and to a lesser extent their meat, hide, liver oil, and jaws. Because of their abundance, they form a major component of commercial and artisanal shark fisheries in many countries. The IUCN reassessed its conservation status to Vulnerable in 2017. It may also be referred to as blackspot shark, grey whaler shark, olive shark, ridgeback shark, sickle-shaped shark and sickle silk shark. It has a slender, streamlined body and typically grows to a length of 2. 5 m. It can be distinguished from other large requiem sharks by its relatively small first dorsal fin with a curving rear margin, and its tiny second dorsal fin. Its sense of hearing is extremely acute, allowing it to localize the low-frequency noises generated by other feeding animals. It feeds mainly on bony fishes and cephalopods, and has been known to drive them into compacted schools before launching open-mouthed, slashing attacks. The large size and cutting teeth make it potentially dangerous, and it has behaved aggressively towards divers.

However, attacks are rare, as few humans enter its oceanic habitat. The shark’s common name comes from the fine texture of its skin compared to other sharks, a product of its tiny, densely packed denticles. It was first published by the German biologists Johannes Müller and Jakob Henle under the name Carcharias falciformis, in their 1839 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen. Subsequent authors have assigned this species to the genus C Archarhinus. Because the type specimen was a 53-cm-long female fetus from Cuba, adult silky sharks were historically not recognized as C.  falciformus and were described as a separate species, Carcharahinus floridanus, by Henry Bigelow, William Schroeder, and Stewart Springer in 1943. Jack Garrick, Richard Backus, and Robert Gibbs Jr. synonymized C  floridanis with C. falCiformis in 1964. The specific epithet falcominis is Latin for \”sickle-shaped\”, which refers to the outline of the dorsal and pectoral fins. It is a deep, metallic bronze-gray above and white below. The newborn sharks spend their first months in relatively sheltered reef nurseries on the outer continental shelf, growing substantially before moving into the open ocean. The sharks are viviparous, meaning that the developing embryos are sustained by a placental connection to their mother.

Related posts:

Pigeye shark Oceanic whitetip shark Silky sifaka Goblin shark