dusky shark
carcharhinus obscurus latin

Dusky sharks belong to the carcharhinid family, all of which produce live young.

Their predators are sharks, such the dusky shark, and large bony fish.

Young dusky sharks adapt well to display in public aquariums.

Dusky sharks generally live offshore, but come closer to the shore during the sardine run.

In turn, they are preyed on by sharks, like the dusky shark, and other large bony fish.

Once a dusky shark rammed his boat, sending him sprawling on to the deck.

Because of its slow reproductive rate, the dusky shark is very vulnerable to human-caused population depletion.

Full-grown dusky sharks have no significant natural predators.

Its very low reproductive rate renders the dusky shark extremely susceptible to overfishing.

The dusky shark is regarded as potentially dangerous to humans due to its large size, but there are few attacks attributable to it.

The range of the dusky shark extends worldwide, albeit discontinuously, in tropical and warm-temperate waters.

The dusky shark is one of the hosts of the sharksucker (Echeneis naucrates).

This occurred in 2014 during the sardine run when a shiver of dusky sharks attacked a humpback whale calf.

Very rarely, the largest dusky sharks may also consume sea turtles, marine mammals (mainly as carrion), and human refuse.

The dusky shark is one of the slowest-growing shark species, reaching sexual maturity only at a substantial size and age (see table).

Shocked fisherman Enrique Lucero León caught the female dusky shark earlier this year.

Large numbers of dusky sharks, mostly juveniles, are caught by sport fishers off South Africa and eastern Australia.

Dusky sharks are one of the slowest-growing and latest-maturing sharks, not reaching adulthood until around 20 years of age.

Teeth belonging to the dusky shark are fairly well represented in the fossil record, though assigning Carcharhinus teeth to species can be problematic.

Carcharhinus obscurus (dusky shark)

For many large coastal shark species, the drop in numbers was much greater: tiger, scalloped hammerhead and dusky shark populations have fallen by more than 95%.

Nevertheless, Recfishwest is currently very concerned that the sustainability of both whiskery and dusky sharks in WA is at risk.

As an apex predator positioned at the highest level of the trophic web, the dusky shark is generally less abundant than other sharks that share its range.

The dusky shark is a generalist that takes a wide variety of prey from all levels of the water column, though it favors hunting near the bottom.

The dusky shark is considered to be potentially dangerous to humans because of its large size, though little is known of how it behaves towards people underwater.

The dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus) is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, occurring in tropical and warm-temperate continental seas worldwide.

Meanwhile, dusky sharks (Carcharhinus obscurus) are listed as Vulnerable because they are slow-growing and reach ages in the region of 40 years (compared with eight years for spot-tail sharks).

Young smooth hammerheads are preyed upon by larger sharks such as the dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus); adults have been observed being consumed by killer whales (Orcinus orca) off New Zealand.

Predators of dories include large sharks such as the dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus) and other requiem sharks, and larger shelf- and slope-dwelling bony fish, such as predatory Moehau, and merluccid hakes.