Lamnidae

Longfin mako

Isurus paucus

Long wings diving beyond a thousand meters

• Gray
• White
• Cross-climate
• Temperate
• Tropical
• Globally widespread
• Marine fish
• Fusiform
• Large
• Tropical fish

Distinguished by immense, sweeping pectoral fins, the longfin mako is a mysterious, oceanic lamnid shark roaming the warm tropical and temperate ocean basins of the world. Its streamlined fusiform torso resembles that of the shortfin mako, but is set apart by exceptionally broad, paddle-like pectoral fins that equal or exceed the head in length, featuring gently rounded rather than pointed tips. The dorsal surface is dark bluish-black or charcoal-grey, transitioning into a pure white belly with dark dusky mottling around the mouth and lower jaw. Large, black eyes lack protective nictitating membranes, functioning in low-light deep-sea hunting. Circumglobally distributed in offshore pelagic waters from the surface down to two hundred and twenty meters depth, it leads an epipelagic and mesopelagic existence far from land. While less celebrated for explosive aerial speed than its shortfin congener, its regional endothermic vascular countercurrent system empowers agile deep-water pursuit of schooling scombroids, carangids, and squids. Aplacental viviparous with uterine oophagy, maximum recorded total length reaches four hundred and twenty-six centimetres.

Sources: NOAA Fisheries — Longfin Mako Shark, Isurus paucus