---
title: Pelagic Thresher Shark (Alopias pelagicus)
scientific_name: Alopias pelagicus
common_name: Pelagic Thresher Shark
taxon: Thresher sharks
conservation_status: EN - Endangered
published: 2024-10-25T17:16:25.810Z
updated: 2026-08-14T11:57:50.931Z
tags: Pelagic Thresher Shark, Alopias pelagicus, Thresher sharks, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/sharks/thresher-sharks/pelagic-thresher-shark
---

# Pelagic Thresher Shark (*Alopias pelagicus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Thresher sharks (*Alopiidae*)
- **Size:** 3 m
- **Depth:** 20-300 m
- **Diet:** Piscivore
- **Activity:** Cathemeral
- **Rarity:** Very Rare
- **Habitat:** Open water off deep drop-offs, coming shallow at dawn
- **Reproduction:** Live-bearer
- **CITES:** Appendix II
- **Conservation status:** EN - Endangered

## How to recognise it

- upper tail lobe as long as the rest of the body
- disproportionately large eyes, small mouth
- metallic blue-gray above with a sharp line to the white belly
- keeps its distance, usually seen as a silhouette

A slender, deep-water shark whose upper tail lobe is as long as the rest of the body, giving a total length around 3 m (10 ft) of which half is tail. Metallic blue-gray above, white below, with disproportionately large eyes and a small mouth. It is shy, keeps its distance, and is seen more often as a silhouette than a shark.

The tail is a weapon and the mechanics were only filmed recently. The shark accelerates into a school of small fish, brakes hard with its pectoral fins, and throws the tail forward over its own head like a whip crack. The tip moves fast enough to drop the pressure of the water behind it into vapor, and the collapsing bubbles add a shockwave to the impact. One strike can stun several fish at once, and the shark turns back to collect them at leisure. Almost no other fish hunts by striking rather than biting.

The eyes explain the rest of the day. They are enormous and angled upward, tuned to spot prey silhouetted against dim light from below, which is what an animal hunting at 200 to 300 m needs. It comes shallower at night and, in some places, at dawn to visit cleaning stations, which is when divers see it at all.

Large eyes, long tail and a litter of two pups make for an animal with no capacity to absorb fishing pressure. It is Endangered, taken in enormous numbers as longline bycatch, and encounters here are exceptional.

## Also known as

- **English:** fox shark, pelagic thresher, thresher shark
- **Arabic:** قرش الدراس - قط البحار
- **Hebrew:** כרישועל שיטן
- **French:** renard pélagique, Requin renard pélagique, Requin-renard pélagique
- **Italian:** Squalo volpe pelagico
- **German:** Pazifischer Fuchshai, Pelagischer Fuchshai
- **Spanish:** zorro pelágico, Tiburón zorro pelágico, Zorro de mar
- **Portuguese:** zorro pelagico, Zorro pelágico, Tubarão-raposo-do-Indico
- **Dutch:** pelagische voshaai
- **Swedish:** Stillahavsrävhaj
- **Polish:** lisogon pelagiczny
- **Czech:** Pelagický žralok mlatec, liškoun pelagický
- **Japanese:** ニタリ, Nitari, nitara
- **Chinese:** Qiǎn hǎi cháng wěi shā, 浅海狐鲛, 浅海长尾鲨
- **Russian:** Пелагическая лисья акула (морская лисица), Пелагическая лисья акула, Пелагическая морская лисица
- **AF:** Kleintand-sambokhaai
- **CHA:** Akno
- **DA:** Stillehavsrævehaj
- **ET:** Avavee-rebashai
- **FA:** Kooseh-e-derazdom
- **FI:** Ulappakettuhai
- **ID:** Cucut pedang, Hiu lancur, Hiu monyet
- **KO:** Hwan-do-sang-ǒ, 환도상어
- **MSA:** Terng boi suar, Yu ekor panjang, Yu tikus
- **TAH:** ma'o aero
- **TAM:** வால்/பட்டை சுறா
- **TH:** Chalarm hang-daab, ปลาฉลามหางดาบ, ปลาฉลามหางแส้
- **VI:** Cá Nhàm đuôi dài

## Range

Djibouti, Eritrea, FAO fishing area 47, FAO fishing area 51, FAO fishing area 57, FAO fishing area 61, FAO fishing area 71, FAO fishing area 77, FAO fishing area 81, FAO fishing area 87, Federal Republic of Somalia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, South Africa

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