Thresher (Alopias vulpinus)

Scientific name: Alopias vulpinus Bonnaterre, 1788

Thresher (Alopias vulpinus)

The Thresher (Alopias vulpinus) is a marine fish of the family Alopiidae.

Biology

Coastal over continental and insular shelves and epipelagic far from land. Oceanic although most abundant near land, pelagic at 1-366 m. Young often close inshore and in shallow bays. Feeds on schooling fishes, squid, octopi, pelagic crustaceans, and rarely seabirds. Ovoviviparous, embryos feeding on yolk sac and other ova produced by the mother. Uses its long caudal fin to bunch up and stun prey. Spatial and depth segregation by sex in northwestern Indian Ocean populations. A few attacks on boats are doubtfully attributed to this species, but it is otherwise apparently harmless to humans, though the size of adults of this species command respect. May

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Alopias vulpinus
Family
Alopiidae (Thresher sharks)
Order
Lamniformes (Mackerel sharks)
Class
Elasmobranchii (Sharks and Rays)
Maximum length
760
Common length
450
Depth range
0–550 m (0–1804 ft)
Environment
Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous; depth range 0 - 550 m, usually 0 - 200 m
Climate
Subtropical
Distribution
Cosmopolitan in temperate and tropical seas. Western Atlantic: Newfoundland, Canada to Cuba, Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil to Argentina. Eastern Atlantic: Norway and British Isles to the Mediterranean, Morocco, Ghana and C?te d'Ivoire; also Cape Province, South Africa. Indo-Pacific: scattered localities from the Gulf of Aden and East Africa to the Hawaiian, Society and Fanning islands. Eastern Pacific: Canada to Chile. Population considered reduced in the US Atlantic waters; lower risk/conservation dependent in US Pacific waters; data deficient in the rest of Atlantic and rest of Pacific. Highly migratory species, Annex I of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Vulnerable (VU)(A2bd+3bd+4bd)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Uses
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
Resilience
Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (K=0.1; tm=5-7; tmax=19; Fec=2-4)

Sources

Taxonomy, distribution and biology data: FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds.), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

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