Critically Endangered
Smalltail shark
Carcharhinus porosus
Smalltail shark is a shark or ray in the family Carcharhinidae (order Carcharhiniformes) — Carcharhinus porosus, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
The smalltail shark is a slender-bodied species with a fairly long, pointed snout. The five pairs of gill slits are short. The second dorsal fin is small and originates over the midpoint of the anal fin base.
The smalltail shark reaches a maximum known length of 1.5 m (4.9 ft), though 0.9–1.1 m (3.0–3.6 ft) is typical.
Range and habitat
The known range of the smalltail shark extends from the northern Gulf of Mexico to southern Brazil, excluding the Caribbean islands (aside from Trinidad and Tobago). This species has not been reported east of the Mississippi River in the past 50 years, despite historical evidence of a nursery area off Louisiana. The smalltail shark can usually be found close to the bottom in inshore waters no deeper than 36 m (118 ft).
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
Opportunistic in habits, the dietary composition of this shark generally reflects what is most available in its environment. Off northern Brazil, the most important prey species are the croakers Macrodon ancylodon and Stellifer naso. Juveniles consume a wider variety of prey than adults.
The diet of the smalltail shark consists mainly of bony fishes such as croakers, while crustaceans, cephalopods, and smaller sharks and rays may also be consumed.
In crisis
The smalltail shark is often caught as bycatch and may be used for meat, fins, liver oil, cartilage, and fishmeal. It seems to have declined significantly since the 1980s. Therefore, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed it as critically endangered.
Smalltail shark is Critically 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 Smalltail shark, Wikidata item Q756989. 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.
