Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)

•Conservation status: IUCN Red Listed as Near Threatened

•In Hawaiian culture this shark is sometimes referred to as Niuhi, a ferocious shark of legend.

•This shark is easily identified by vertical, dark grey to black bars along the body and a broad head and large mouth. Adult tiger sharks may reach 5.5 meters (18 ft) in length.

•They are found globally throughout tropical or subtropical waters; they have been known to travel long distances, over 3,000 kilometers (~ 1856 miles), in the western Atlantic.

•Tiger sharks mature at about 2.8 meters (9 ft) in length; and they can have litters of 35 to 55 pups. Tiger sharks are the only species in its family that is ‘ovoviviparous,’ meaning they develop their young as eggs, internally; they use bays and estuaries as nurseries.

•These sharks are thought to have the one of the most varied diets, including bony fishes, other sharks and rays, sea birds, turtles, marine mammals and reptiles, crustaceans, and even jellyfish.

•Their fins are considered high quality by the fin trade and are one of the fourteen species most frequently found in the Hong Kong markets.

•Tiger sharks are legally protected in some areas where they are popular with recreational divers and photographers, such as Florida and the Bahamans.

Information provided by the SharksCount program. Find out more about citizen science for sharks at www.sharksavers.org/sharkscount.

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