Asian Diver – March 2018

Tiger Shark

Bull Shark

Crocodile

SNOUT, JAWS AND TEETH

The snout is very short and bluntly

rounded and each jaw contains

12–14 rows of anteroposterior teeth.

Upper jaw teeth are broad, triangular

and heavily serrated while the lower jaw

teeth have a broad base and are narrow

and triangular with finer serrations

SMALL EYES

Bull sharks have relatively small eyes

compared to other carcharhinid sharks,

suggesting that vision may not be as

important for this species, and it instead

relies upon other senses to find prey in

low visibility and murky water

REPRODUCTION
Bull sharks are viviparous: They gestate
live young via a yolk sac placenta for
10–11 months before giving birth to
between 1–13 pups in a litter.
The average size of a pup at birth is
around 60 centimetres in length. Sexual
maturity is not attained until about six
years of age for females and 12 years for
males. Coastal lagoons, river mouths,
and other low-salinity estuaries are
common nursery habitats

Young Shark

Crustacean

Sea Turtle

Terrestrial Mammal

Bony Fish

Seabird Ray

Dolphin

DIET
A versatile and opportunistic feeder,
the bull shark has a diet similar in diversity
to the tiger shark. Favoured food includes
bony fishes and other elasmobranchs,
particularly young sharks and rays
in inshore nursery grounds. It will
also consume sea turtles, birds,
dolphins, crustaceans, whale offal and
terrestrial mammals

PREDATORS
Adult bull sharks are unlikely to have
any natural predators, however juveniles can fall prey to
large tiger sharks, sandbar sharks and other bull sharks.
There have also been reported sightings of crocodiles
consuming young sharks in lakes and rivers in Africa

Newborn pups measure around

60 centimetres