Endangered
Shortfin mako shark
Isurus oxyrinchus
Shortfin mako shark is a shark or ray in the family Lamnidae (order Lamniformes) — Isurus oxyrinchus, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
This species exhibits countershading, with brilliant metallic blue coloration dorsally and white ventrally. The line of demarcation between blue and white on the body is distinct.
A typical adult specimen measures around 2.5 to 3.2 m (8.2 to 10.5 ft) in length and weighs 60–140 kg (130–310 lb).
Range and habitat
The shortfin mako shark is a cosmopolitan species, inhabiting offshore temperate and tropical seas worldwide. It is a pelagic species that can be found from the surface to depths of 150 m (490 ft), normally far from land, though occasionally closer to shore, around islands or inlets. The shortfin mako is one of the very few known endothermic sharks, although it is seldom found in waters colder than 16 °C (61 °F).
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
The shortfin mako shark primarily feeds upon squid (such as Loligo pealeii and Illex illecebrosus), other cephalopods, and bony fish among them bluefish, mackerel, herring, tuna, bonito, saury, and billfish, but may also eat other sharks (such as blue and grey reef), porpoises, dolphins, sea turtles, seabirds, and crustaceans. Mako swim below their prey, so they can see what is above and have a high probability of reaching prey before it notices them.
In addition, this location, and the late spring and early summer timing, corresponding to the swordfish's spawning cycle, suggests they hunt while the swordfish are most vulnerable, typical of many predators. Developing embryos feed on unfertilized eggs within the uterus during the 15 to 18 month long gestation period. The shortfin mako shark is a yolk-sac ovoviviparous shark that gives birth to live young.
In crisis
The fastest known shark species, able to reach speeds of 74 km/h (46 mph) in bursts, the shortfin mako can attain sizes of more than 4 m (13 ft) in length and weigh over 570 kg (1,260 lb). The species is classified as Endangered by the IUCN. The shortfin mako is currently classified as Endangered by the IUCN, having been uplisted from Vulnerable in 2019 and Near-Threatened in 2007.
The species is being targeted by both sport and commercial fisheries, and there is a substantial proportion of bycatch in driftnet fisheries for other species. In June 2018, the New Zealand Department of Conservation classified the shortfin mako shark as "Not Threatened" with the qualifier "Uncertain whether Secure Overseas" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Shortfin mako shark is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Shortfin mako shark, Wikidata item Q192158. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
