---
title: Bignose Shark (Carcharhinus altimus)
scientific_name: Carcharhinus altimus
common_name: Bignose Shark
taxon: Requiem shark
conservation_status: DD - Data Deficient
published: 2024-11-03T21:19:13.830Z
updated: 2026-08-14T11:57:51.003Z
tags: Bignose Shark, Carcharhinus altimus, Requiem shark, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/sharks/requiem-shark/bignose-shark
---

# Bignose Shark (*Carcharhinus altimus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Requiem shark (*Carcharhinidae*)
- **Size:** 2.8 - 3 m
- **Weight:** 168 Kg
- **Depth:** 25-430 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Very Rare
- **Habitat:** Deep water along the shelf edge, rising shallower at night
- **Reproduction:** Live-bearer
- **Hazard:** Dangerous
- **CITES:** Appendix II
- **Conservation status:** DD - Data Deficient

## How to recognise it

- long broad snout with conspicuous flaps of skin at the nostrils
- tall triangular upper teeth
- ridge of skin between the two dorsal fins
- plain gray, no markings, and almost always deep

A large plain gray shark of 2.8 to 3 m (9 to 10 ft) with a long broad snout, conspicuous flaps of skin over the nostrils, tall triangular upper teeth and a ridge of skin running between the two dorsal fins. Nothing about it is decorative, and it is one of the hardest requiem sharks to identify from a photograph.

It lives deeper than divers go. The usual range is 90 to 430 m (300 to 1,400 ft) along the edge of the shelf, where it hunts near the bottom for fish, small sharks and squid, and it moves up into shallower water only at night. Records from recreational depths are rare enough to be worth reporting.

The nasal flaps are a clue to how it works. Sharks smell in stereo, comparing the time a scent arrives at one nostril against the other, and the flaps channel water through the nasal sacs as the animal swims. In a species that hunts in near darkness along the bottom, that channeling is doing more work than eyesight.

The reproductive arithmetic is the usual one for a deep, slow shark: ten months of gestation, a handful of pups, and late maturity. It is caught as longline bycatch throughout its range and used entirely, and populations have declined where anyone has looked. Listed as Near Threatened.

## Also known as

- **English:** bignose shark, Knopp's Shark
- **Hebrew:** כריש גדול-שן
- **French:** Requin babosse
- **Italian:** Squalo nasuto di Knopp, Squalo naso grande
- **German:** Großnasenhai, Grossnasenhai
- **Spanish:** picoto, tiburón baboso, tiburón narizón
- **Greek:** Μεγαλόρυγχος καρχαρίνος
- **Turkish:** iriburun camgöz
- **Portuguese:** Tubarão-baboso
- **Dutch:** Grootsnuithaai
- **Czech:** žralok madagaskarský
- **Japanese:** ハビレ
- **Chinese:** 大沙, 大鼻白眼鮫, 大鼻真鯊
- **Russian:** Большеносая акула
- **FI:** isokuonohai
- **HU:** Nagyorrú cápa
- **TH:** ปลาฉลามจมูกโต

## Scientific synonyms

- *Carcharhinus radamae* Fourmanoir, 1961
- *Carcharinus altimus* (Springer, 1950)
- *Carcharinus radamae* Fourmanoir, 1961
- *Eulamia altima* Springer, 1950

## Range

Gulf of Mexico, Madagascar, Mediterranean Sea - Eastern Basin, Mozambique, North Atlantic Ocean, Red Sea, South Africa

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/sharks/requiem-shark/bignose-shark)*
*Updated: August 14, 2026*