A blunt-headed shark, commonly 3.5 to 5 m (11 to 16 ft) and recorded to 7.5 m (25 ft), gray-green above with vertical bars down the flank that are strong in juveniles and fade to almost nothing in old adults. The head is wide and squared off, the upper lobe of the tail long, and the whole animal moves at a slow, unhurried roll until it does not.
The teeth are the reason it eats what it eats. Every other large shark has teeth for holding or slicing; this one has a deeply notched, coarsely serrated tooth in both jaws that works like a can opener, and by shaking its head it saws rather than bites. That is what lets it cut through the shell of a sea turtle, which almost nothing else in the ocean can do.
The consequence is the broadest diet of any shark: turtles, sea snakes, rays, dolphins, birds, other sharks, carrion and, notoriously, inedible objects that stay in the stomach for months. Populations near seabird colonies specialize in fledglings that fall into the water on their first flight, and time their arrival to that week of the year.
It has one of the worst records of any species for attacks on people, second only to the white shark. It also has a reputation among divers for indifference, and both are true: this is an unhurried, curious, entirely unpredictable animal that investigates by mouth. Encounters here are rare and mostly offshore.
The genus. Galeocerdo Müller & Henle 1837 - galeus (also means weasel). ETYFish
- blunt squared-off head, wider than any other large shark here
- vertical bars down the flank, strong in young fish and faded in adults
- long upper lobe on the tail
- unhurried rolling swimming style
Why it's threatened
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
