Gray Reef Shark

Belonging to the species of requiem shark, the gray reef shark is most commonly found in the Indo-Pacific region. They are mostly seen in shallow waters in areas of coral reefs. The body of this variety of shark is round and stout with broad fins and large eyes. A distinguishing feature is its first dorsal fin which are white-tipped, while the other fins are darker tipped and the tail fin is broad and black. Moreover, the dorsal fins have no ridges in between. These sharks are fast-swimmers and are extremely quick predators, feeding especially on cephalopods and bony fish. In spite of their size as compared to other varieties of sharks, they dominate the shark world due to their aggressive behavior. These sharks are social creatures and they have a specific area to which they return after roaming around for food. While hunting, they hunt individually, especially in the evenings and during the day time they roam about in groups of 5 to 20.

Facts on Gray Reef Shark

The underside of the gray reef sharks is white in color with white patterns on the edges of the dorsal fin. In most of the fish of these species, a black margin can be found on the caudal fin. Many a time, the gray reef shark is confused with blacktip reef shark, as they look similar. The only distinguishing feature of the blacktip reef shark is that on the dorsal fin there is a distinct black tip. The longest known shark had a length of 255 cm and the maximum recorded weight of this variety of shark is 33.7 kg and are known to live for at least 25 years. These give birth to live offspring, just like humans and the embryos get their food from the placenta inside the womb of the female shark. It takes about 12 months for the female to give birth and at a time they may give birth to one to six young ones.

Habitat of Gray Reef Shark

Usually, they live in warm subtropical and tropical waters. They are mostly found around coral reefs and lagoons and have been often found swimming around the outer edges of coral reefs. The depth at which these fish are found ranges from about 10 to 900 feet, but then they can also dive deeper to more than 3,000 feet. Ordinarily, they are highly active during the night, but there are times when these fish form schools and hunt during the day time. When in groups, they swim at the bottom of the sea and sometimes they are found to form loose aggregations. Individual reef sharks can be found around shallow reefs or lying motionless for long periods of time at the sea bottom. These fish can also be found near insular and continental shelves.

Gray reef sharks prefer clear waters with rugged areas and the water current should be flowing towards the leeward sides of the reefs. Studies have shown that those sharks which live near reefs do not stay there for a long time and travel continuously. On the other hand, those which live in lagoon areas are found to return to the same site.

These sharks can be most commonly found in the Pacific and Indian Ocean region and can be found in the seas surrounding the Indian and the South African peninsula. Besides these regions,they are also found in the Maldives, Red Sea, Madagascar in the Indian Ocean region. On the other hand, the Pacific Ocean region where they are found includes New Zealand, northern parts of Australia, southern China, Indonesia and Philippines.

In several regions, gray reef sharks are hunted and thus, have become endangered due to overfishing. Moreover, continuous depletion of its habitat and late age of maturity has put this variety of shark under constant threat. Conservation methods have yielded results, but more needs to be done.