Blacktip Shark

Carcharhinus limbatus

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Elasmobranchii
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Carcharhinidae
Genus: Carcharhinus
Species: Carcharhinus limbatus

The blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) is a stout, fast-swimming requiem shark with a long, pointed snout and black tips on most of its fins, though the anal fin is usually plain. It reaches about 2 m and has a pale band along the flank.

It should not be confused with the smaller blacktip reef shark, which has a bold black tip on the first dorsal fin edged by a white band. Blacktip sharks hunt schooling fish in coastal waters and sometimes spin and leap out of the water while feeding.

In the Philippines blacktip sharks occur in coastal and shelf waters, bays and estuaries, and are more often recorded by fisheries than by divers. They are listed as Vulnerable due to heavy fishing pressure.

Photo: Chris Kirby-Lambert, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist