Author: (Bonnaterre, 1788)
Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: snout short; no grooves on nape; eyes rather small, not reaching the dorsal surface of head; generally more than 29 rows of teeth in jaws. First dorsal fin closer to pectoral fins than to pelvic fins. Colour: back dark blue to nearly black or brown, belly white. Size: males to 4.2 m, females to 5.6 m, possibly to 6.09 m TL.
Habitat: epipelagic, oceanic and coastal in cold-temperate to tropical waters, from the surface to 360 m. Food: mostly small schooling pelagic fishes, also squids and pelagic crustaceans. Reproduction: ovoviviparous; number of young 2-4; size at birth about 120 cm. Males mature at 3.5 m, females at 4 m TL
Distribution: from Norway and British Isles southward to Mediterranean Elsewhere, temperate and tropical Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Döderlein, 1881: 52 (embryos) | Vaillant, 1886 :41 (young stages) | Capapé, 1974a: 234.