TIGER SHARK

Galeocerdo cuvier
Family: Carcharhinidae

Description: broad and bluntly rounded noses with distinctive striped markings on their body that fade with age.

Size: 300-400 cm (largest on record 549 cm)

Weight: up to 1000kg

Sexual Maturity: males 290cm Females 300cm

Reproduction: ovoviviparous, gestation is 14-16 months and a single shark can produce from 10-80 pups

Average life span: at least 27-37 years.

Habitat: found in a wide range of habitats; clear waters on the shallow banks, coral reefs, deep water in the Gulf Stream and turbid estuaries and bays.

Distribution: found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters, open ocean and shallow waters.

Diet: wide range of prey species, sea turtles, rays, bonyfishes, dolphins, squid, crustaceans, other sharks

Status: near threatened

Human pressure: fished for their fins, skins and flesh and their liver contains vitamin A processed into vitamin oil