Author: Rafinesque, 1810
Isurus oxyrinchus Rafinesque, 1810
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Isurus oxyrinchus Rafinesque, 1810 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body fusiform, trunk slender; snout very pointed; teeth very slender, smooth-edged lateral cusplets, alike in both jaws, the first two in each jaw much larger than the others, recurved at their base but curve reversed at tips. First dorsal fin with apex acutely pointed (adults) to bluntly rounded (young); pectoral fins, shorter than head, falcate; anal fin origin below about middle of second dorsal fin base. Caudal keel extending well on to caudal fin. Colour: deep blue-grey to deep blue above, white on belly, the transition being sharp; snout and area around mouth dark. Size: to at least 4 m, generally 3.0-3.7 m.
Habitat: pelagic, coastal and oceanic, occurring at or near the surface or down to at least 400 m; common in south of the Clofnam area. Food: mainly pelagic fishes, voracious. Reproduction: ovoviviparous; size at birth 60-70 cm.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic, northward to British Isles (rare) and Norway (rare), also Mediterranean. Elsewhere, southward to South Africa; cosmopolitan in temperate and tropical waters of Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Vaillant, 1889 (embryos) | Capapé, 1974a: 233.