---
title: Silvertip Shark (Carcharhinus albimarginatus)
scientific_name: Carcharhinus albimarginatus
common_name: Silvertip Shark
taxon: Requiem shark
conservation_status: VU - Vulnerable
published: 2024-11-03T20:36:02.525Z
updated: 2026-08-14T11:57:51.008Z
tags: Silvertip Shark, Carcharhinus albimarginatus, Requiem shark, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/sharks/requiem-shark/silvertip-shark
---

# Silvertip Shark (*Carcharhinus albimarginatus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Requiem shark (*Carcharhinidae*)
- **Size:** 2 - 3 m
- **Weight:** 162 Kg
- **Depth:** 30-800 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Cathemeral
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Steep offshore reef walls and open water alongside them
- **Reproduction:** Live-bearer
- **Hazard:** Dangerous
- **CITES:** Appendix II
- **Conservation status:** VU - Vulnerable

## How to recognise it

- every fin tipped and edged in clean white
- heavy-bodied, blue-gray with a bronze sheen
- large individuals scarred along the flanks and fins
- patrols open water off steep walls rather than the reef itself

A heavy-bodied requiem shark of 2 to 3 m (6.5 to 10 ft), blue-gray with a bronze sheen and, at any distance, one certain field mark: every fin is tipped and edged in clean white. It is built like a bulkier Grey Reef Shark, and where the two meet, this is the one that gets its way.

Dominance here is settled with the body. Silvertips displace other requiem sharks of their own size at food, and they establish rank among themselves by ramming and biting, which is why large individuals carry an obvious record of their history: parallel scars, notched fins, healed gouges across the flank. Reading those marks is how researchers tell individuals apart without tagging them.

It swings through a wide vertical range, recorded down to 800 m (2,600 ft) and up to the surface, and it patrols the water column off steep offshore walls rather than sitting on the reef. Approach is direct and interested rather than nervous. It has come to divers on first sight and stayed with them, which is behavior worth respecting in an animal of this size and confidence.

Slow to mature, small litters, and heavily fished for fins wherever it is accessible. The species is Vulnerable, and here it belongs to the offshore reefs rather than the coast.

## Also known as

- **English:** silvertip shark
- **Arabic:** قرش الأبيض الحافة, Jarjur
- **French:** Requin pointes blanches de récif, Requin à pointes blanches, Requin pointe blanche
- **Italian:** Squalo dalle punte argentee, Squalo pinne grigie
- **German:** Küsten-Weißspitzenhai, Riff-Weißspitzenhai, Silberspitzenhai
- **Spanish:** tiburón puntas blancas, Tiburón de puntas blancas, Tiburón puntas plateadas
- **Portuguese:** Tubarão de pontas brancas de recife, Galha-prata, Tubarão-de-pontas-prateadas
- **Dutch:** Zilverpunthaai
- **Swedish:** Silverspetshaj
- **Polish:** Żarłacz srebrnopłetwy
- **Czech:** žralok bělocípý
- **Japanese:** ツマジロ, Tsumajiro
- **Chinese:** 大沙, 尖頭沙, 白邊真鯊
- **Russian:** Белопёрая серая акула, Белопёрая акула
- **DA:** Sølvtippet haj
- **FI:** hopeaevähai
- **FIJ:** qio
- **HU:** Fehérfoltú szirticápa
- **MSA:** Ikan yu
- **TAH:** ma'o tapete
- **TH:** ปลาฉลามครีบเงิน, ปลาฉลามหูขาว

## Scientific synonyms

- *Carcharhinus platyrhynchus* (Gilbert, 1892)
- *Carcharias albimarginatus* Rüppell, 1837
- *Carcharinus albimarginatus* (Rüppell, 1837)
- *Eulamia albimarginata* (Rüppell, 1837)
- *Eulamia platyrhynchus* Gilbert, 1892

## Range

Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Federal Republic of Somalia, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Western Indian Ocean

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