Classification / Names
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa
Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Carcharhiniformes
(Ground sharks) > Hemigaleidae
Etymology: Hemipristis: Greek, hemi = half + Greek, pristis = saw (Ref. 45335).
Environment / Climate / Range
Marine; demersal; depth range 1 - 130 m (Ref. 6871). Tropical; 41°N - 34°S, 12°E - 156°E (Ref. 6871)
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?, range 120 - ? cm
Max length : 240 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5578); common length : 200 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 13567)
soft rays: 0. A slender weasel shark with a long, broadly rounded snout, large curved, saw-edged teeth in the upper jaw, and hooked lower teeth protruding from mouth; gill slits long; fins strongly curved (Ref. 5578). Light grey or bronzy with no prominent markings (Ref. 5578).
Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea and southeast Africa to Philippines, north to China, south to Australia.
A coastal species, found inshore and offshore on the continental and insular shelves (Ref. 244). Feeds on sharks, rays and bony fishes (Ref. 244); also cephalopods (Ref. 13567). Viviparous (Ref. 50449). Thought to be potentially dangerous because of its large, fearsome teeth and shallow-water habitat, but has not been recorded in an attack on people (Ref. 244). Caught regularly by inshore gillnet, bottom trawl (occasionally) and longline fisheries (Ref.58048). Regularly taken in artisanal fisheries (Ref. 13567). Utilized fresh for human consumption, liver processed for vitamins, fins used in the oriental shark fin trade, and by-products processed into fishmeal (Ref. 244). Most adults below 200 cm (Ref. 30573).
Compagno, L.J.V., 1984. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2 - Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/2):251-655. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 244)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)
CITES (Ref. 94142)
Threat to humans
Traumatogenic (Ref. 5213)
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
CollaboratorsPicturesStamps, CoinsSoundsCiguateraSpeedSwim. typeGill areaOtolithsBrainsVision
Estimates of some properties based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805
= 1.0039 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00372 (0.00141 - 0.00980), b=3.11 (2.88 - 3.34), based on LWR estimates for this Subfamily-body shape (Ref. 93245
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278
): 4.3 ±0.6 se; Based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 69278
): Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (Fec=2).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153
): High to very high vulnerability (73 of 100) .