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Prionace glauca (Linnaeus, 1758)
BLUE SHARK
Blue Whaler; Blue Whaler Shark; Blue Whalers; Great Blue; Great Blue Shark; Carcharhinus glaucus Linnaeus, 1758; Carcharhinus mackiei Phillipps, 1935; Carcharias glaucus Linnaeus, 1758; Galeus glaucus Linnaeus, 1758; Glyphis glauca Linnaeus, 1758; Glyphis mackiei Phillipps, 1935; Prionodon glaucus Linnaeus, 1758; Squalus glaucus Linnaeus, 1758; Prionace glaucum Linnaeus, 1758; Prionace mackiei Phillipps, 1935

Life   Vertebrata   Fish   Carcharhinidae   Prionace



Prionace glauca
© Copyright Photographer/SFTEP, 2002 · 0
Prionace glauca

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Prionace glauca
© Copyright Photographer/SFTEP, 2002 · 0
Prionace glauca
Prionace glauca
© Copyright Photographer/SFTEP, 2002 · 0
Prionace glauca

Prionace glauca
© Copyright Photographer/SFTEP, 2002 · 0
Prionace glauca

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Overview
Main identification features Very elongate and fusiform; snout long and narrowly rounded; no spiracles; eyes with nictitating membrane; teeth serrated, wide, long triangular and curved, center tooth of top jaw very large; 5 short gill slits, last 2 over pectoral base; origin of first dorsal well behind pectoral fins; pectorals very long, narrow, slightly curved; tail base with small keel; no crest between dorsal fins.

Back dark blue, flanks intense blue; belly white; tip of pectoral and anal dark.

Size: 480 cm.

Habitat: oceanic, epipelagic.

Depth: 0-350 m.

Southern California to the lower 2/3 of the Gulf of California and to Peru, and probably all the oceanic islands.


Attributes

Abundance: Common.

Cites: Not listed.

Climate Zone: North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California); Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap); Northern Tropical (Mexican Province to Nicaragua + Revillagigedos); Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo); South Temperate (Peruvian Province ).

Depth Range Max: 350 m.

Depth Range Min: 0 m.

Diet: bony fishes; octopus/squid/cuttlefish; sharks/rays; Pelagic crustacea; sea snakes/mammals/turtles/birds.

Eastern Pacific Range: Northern limit=66; Southern limit=-55; Western limit=-165; Eastern limit=-70; Latitudinal range=121; Longitudinal range=95.

Egg Type: Live birth; No pelagic larva.

Feeding Group: Carnivore.

FishBase Habitat: Pelagic.

Global Endemism: Circumtropical ( Indian + Pacific + Atlantic Oceans); East Pacific + Atlantic (East +/or West); Transisthmian (East Pacific + Atlantic of Central America); East Pacific + all Atlantic (East+West); All Pacific (West + Central + East); TEP non-endemic; "Transpacific" (East + Central &/or West Pacific); All species.

Habitat: Water column.

Inshore Offshore: Offshore; Offshore Only.

IUCN Red List: Near threatened; Listed.

Length Max: 480 cm.

Regional Endemism: Island (s); Continent; Continent + Island (s); Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic; Eastern Pacific non-endemic; California + Peruvian provinces, primarily; Temperate Eastern Pacific, primarily; All species.

Residency: Resident.

Salinity: Marine; Marine Only.

Water Column Position: Mid Water; Near Surface; Surface; Water column only;

Names
Scientific source:
Links to other sites


References
  • Béarez, P., 1996., Lista de los Peces Marinos del Ecuador Continental., Revista de Biologia Tropical, 44:731-741.
  • Castro-Aguirre, J.L. and Balart, E.F., 2002., La ictiofauna de las islas Revillagigedos y sus relaciones zoogeograficas, con comentarios acerca de su origen y evolucion. En: Lozano-Vilano, M. L. (Ed.). Libro Jubilar en Honor al Dr. Salvador Contreras Balderas., Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León:153-170.
  • Compagno, L.J.V., 1999., Checklist of living elasmobranchs. In Hamlett W.C. (ed.) Sharks, skates, and rays: the biology of elasmobranch fishes., The John Hopkins University Press:471-498.
  • Compagno, L.J.V., 1984., Sharks of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2. Carcharhiniformes. FAO Species Catalogue., FAO Fish. Synop. No 125, 4(2):251-655.
  • Eschmeyer , W. N. , Herald , E. S. and Hamman, H., 1983., A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America from the Gulf of Alaska to Baja California. Peterson Field Guide Ser. 28., Houghton Mifflin:336pp.
  • Findley, L.T., Hendrickx, M.E., Brusca, R.C., van der Heiden, A.M., Hastings, P.A., Torre, J., 2003., Diversidad de la Macrofauna Marina del Golfo de California, Mexico., CD-ROM versión 1.0. Projecto de la Macrofauna del Golfo .  Derechos reservados de los autores y Conservación Internacional.
  • Fischer , W. , Krup , F. , Schneider , W. , Sommer , C. , Carpenter , K. E. and Niem, V. H., 1995., Guia FAO para la Identificacion de Especies de para los fines de la Pesca. Pacifico Centro-Oriental. Volumen II. Vertebrados - Parte 1., FAO2:647-1200.
  • Galván-Magaña, F., Abitia-Cárdenas, L.A., Rodríguez-Romero, J., Pérez-España, H., Chávez-Ramos, H., 1996., Systematics list of the fishes from Cerralvo island, Baja California Sur, Mexico., Ciencias Marinas, 22:295-311.
  • Galván-Magaña, F., Gutiérrez-Sánchez, F., Abitia-Cárdenas, L.A., Rodríguez-Romero, J., 2000., The distribution and affinities of the shore fishes of the Baja California Sur lagoons. In Aquatic Ecosystems of Mexico: Status and Scope. Eds. M. Manuwar, S.G. Lawrence, I.F. Manuwar & D.F. Malley. Ecovision World Monograph Series., Backhuys Publishers:383-398.
  • Hildebrand, S.F., 1946., A descriptive catalog of the shore fishes of Peru., Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., 189:1-530.
  • Jimenez-Prado, P., Béarez, P., 2004., Peces marinos del Ecuador continental / Marine fishes of continental Ecuador., SIMBIOE/NAZCA/IFEA tomo 1 y 2.
  • Linnaeus, C., 1758., Systema Naturae, Ed. X. (Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.) Holmiae., Systema Nat. ed. 10, 1:1-824.
  • Love, M.S., Mecklenburg, C.W., Mecklenburg, T.A., Thorsteinson, L.K., 2005., es of the West Coast and Alaska: a checklist of North Pacific and Artic Ocena species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border., U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, 288pp.
  • Osburn , R. C. and Nichols, J. T., 1916., Shore Fishes Collected by the 'Albatross' Expedition in Lower California with Descriptions of New Species., Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 35:139-181.
  • Ramírez Rodríguez, M., 1997., Producción pesquera en la Bahía de La Paz, B.C.S.. En Urbán Ramírez, J. y M. Ramírez Rodríguez (Eds.). La Bahía de La Paz investigación y conservación., Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur:273-282.
  • Van der Heiden , A. M. and Findley, L. T., 1988., Lista de los peces marinos del sur de Sinaloa, México., Anales del Centro de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia de la Universidad Autonoma Nacional de Mexico, 15:209-224.
  • Villavicencio Garayzar , C. J. , Mariano Meléndez , E. and Downton Hoffmann, C., 1997., Tiburones capturados comercialmente en la Bahía de La Paz, B.C.S.. En Urbán Ramírez, J. y M. Ramírez Rodríguez (Eds.). La Bahía de La Paz investigación y conservación., Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur:201-236.


Acknowledgements

I thank Ashley MacDonald and John Pickering, University of Georgia, for technical support in building this page.


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