Triaenodon obesus

White-tip reef shark
Triaenodon obesus
Triaenodon obesus, Coral Sea, Australia, Photo: Rick Stuart-Smith
Triaenodon obesus
Triaenodon obesus, Coral Sea, QLD, Photo: Andrew Green
Triaenodon obesus
Triaenodon obesus, Coral Sea, Australia, Photo: Ian Shaw
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Triaenodon obesus
Triaenodon obesus
Triaenodon obesus

Distribution

Tropical Eastern Pacific, Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

White tips to upper tail lobe and dorsal fins. More slender body, and found closer to reef than other sharks with white tipped fins. Commonly seen on coral reefs, often resting in gutters.


Information

Max Size: 213 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 21.7-31.3°C

Depth: 1-330m

Habitat Generalization Index: 21.71

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Not Evaluated

Occurrence: Common (21.2% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Solitary (1 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: extract from RD Stuart-Smith, GJ Edgar, AJ Green, IV Shaw. 2015. Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland