Galeocerdonidae

Tiger shark

Galeocerdo cuvier

Tiger bars fading with age

• Gray
• White
• Tropical
• Nearshore
• Globally widespread
• Marine fish
• Fusiform
• Large
• Tropical fish

Equipped with heavily serrated cockscomb teeth and a distinctive patterned camouflage, the tiger shark is one of the most powerful and ecologically vital apex macropredators patrolling warm seas. Its robust, heavy-set body displays a blunt, square-shaped snout and an ash-grey back marked with dark vertical tiger-like bars and blotches that soften with age. Specialized obliquely set, curved teeth featuring deep lateral notches and finely serrated edges allow it to saw cleanly through thick turtle carapaces and marine mammal bone. Ranging circumglobally through tropical and warm temperate seas, it patrols shallow coastal bays, river mouths, and deep coral drop-offs down to one hundred and forty meters depth. Primarily a solitary nocturnal hunter, its extraordinary trophic generalism encompasses sea turtles, rays, bony fishes, seabirds, and cephalopods. Aplacental viviparous (ovoviviparous) with massive litters reaching up to eighty pups, its recorded maximum total length attains five hundred centimetres.

Sources: NOAA Fisheries — Tiger Shark, Galeocerdo cuvier