Asian Diver – March 2018

Newborn pups measure around

70 centimetres

PREDATORS

CARIBBEAN REEF SHARK

Tiger Shark
Galeocerdo cuvier

Bull Shark
Carcharhinus leucas

PARASITES
Like all marine animals, sharks cannot avoid parasites. Copepods
and leeches often attach themselves to the fins, gills and even
inside the mouth of many species and Caribbean reef sharks are
often seen carrying a hitchhiker or two!

SENSITIVE SNOUTS

Sharks sometimes enter a natural state

of paralysis that can also be induced

by humans in two different ways: Tonic

immobility occurs when the animal is

turned upside down, and this method is

often used by researchers to restrain

sharks when working with them.

Interestingly, a similar result can also be

achieved by touching sensitive receptors

around the shark’s snout

REPRODUCTION

Females begin to reproduce when they

have reached around two metres in

length, giving birth to four to six pups

every other year. The gestation period

is around one year and the reproduction

method is viviparous, meaning the

developing embryos are nourished inside

the mother via a placental connection

Atlantic Parrotfish
Sparisoma spp.

Coney

Cephalopholis fulva

Horse-eye jack

Caranx latus

Octopus

Cephalopods

Spotted Eagle Ray

Aetobatus narinari

Yellow Stingray

Urobatis jamaicensis

PREY
The Caribbean reef shark feeds on a wide variety of reef-dwelling bony fishes and
cephalopods, as well as some elasmobranchs such as eagle rays and yellow stingrays

Stibarobdella macrothela

This leech is a parasite

of sharks and occurs

worldwide in tropical to

subtropical waters. It is

normally seen attached

to the gills or fins of sharks

Maximum Size

Average Size

Maximum Weight

2.95 metres

2 metres

70 kilograms

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Chondrichthyes
Subclass : Elasmobranchii
Superorder : Selachimorpha
Order : Carcharhiniformes
Family : Carcharhinidae
Genus : Carcharhinus
Species : C. perezi

CONSERVATION STATUS

Extinct Threatened Near Threatened

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