Hardnose Shark

The hardnose shark is a requiem shark distributed throughout the western Indo-Pacific.

Description

This shark is 3.6 ft long. The snout is pointed and narrow, with calcified cartilaginous nostrils that give the shark its name. Their eyes are large, circular, and have nictitating membranes. Inside their arched mouths, one can observe 29–32 rows of teeth in the upper jaw and 26–29 in the lower jaw.

The first dorsal fin is medium, triangular, and much larger than the second dorsal fin. The pectoral fins are falcate, and the caudal fin has a prominent upper lobe.

Dorsally the hardnose shark is bronze, and ventrally it is white. The pectoral and pelvic fins have lighter margins, while the first dorsal fin and the upper lobe of the caudal fin have darker margins.

Where do they live

These sharks live in the Indo-Pacific, ranging from Kenya to Myanmar in the Indian Ocean and Vietnam to Taiwan in the Pacific, appearing in the Andaman Islands, Indonesia, New Guinea, northern Australia, Sri Lanka, and southern Japan.

They mostly swim in shallow waters but have been spotted at depths of 560 ft.

Behavior

Feeding

Their diet mainly consists of bony fish, but they also consume cephalopods and crustaceans.

Social

While male and female sharks associate separately, they tend to form large groups. They have an amicable relationship with other sharks like the Australian blacktip and the spottail.

Reproductive

Females give live birth to a litter consisting of 1-2 pups annually after a gestation period of 12 months. At birth, the newly born sharks are 18–22 inches long and become sexually mature at about 28–30 inches.

Interactions with humans

This shark is sometimes caught for its meat by fisheries which could be a risk to its population due to its low reproductive rate. Currently, the shark is listed as “Near Threatened” or “NT” by the IUCN globally and has been given a regional assessment of “Least Concern” or “LC” in northern Australia.