Author: (Lesueur, 1818)
Carcharhinus obscurus (Lesueur, 1818)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Carcharhinus obscurus (Lesueur, 1818) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: snout relatively short, rounded. Teeth serrate, uppers somewhat oblique, lowers wlth narrow cusps; tooth counts
14 or 15-1 to 3-14 or 15
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14-1 to 3-14
First dorsal fin origin over pectoral fin free tip, the fin relatively low, apex rounded; pectoral fins falcate, underside with dusky tips; second dorsal fin with short free tip, 1-1 1/2 times fin height; inter-dorsal ridge present. Colour: grey to bronze above, white below; underside of pectorals and pelvics with dusky tips, lower caudal lobe often darker at tip. Size: to 365 cm TL.
Habitat: epipelagic in coastal and open oceanic waters, demersal in coastal waters; often seen sunning at surface, powerful due to size. Food: fishes, crustaceans. Reproduction: viviparous, 6-12 embryos, born at 85-100 cm TL. Gestation period may be 16 months, with two separate breeding populations of females; mature at 275-300 cm TL.
Distribution: nominally recorded from Portugal, Madeira, Morocco, but may have been confused with C. galapagensis; in Mediterranean, nominally reported off the coast ot Spain and a single capture off Tunisia. Elsewhere, cosmopolitan.
Complementary iconography. Lesueur, 1818, pl. 9 | Lozano Rey, 1928, fig. 100-101 | Bigelow and Schroeder, 1948, fig. 71-72 | Kato et al., 1967, fig. 74.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Bigelow and Schroeder, 1948: 387.