Home > Facts > Animal Facts > Blacknose shark Facts

Blacknose shark Facts

Blacknose shark Facts
Blacknose shark belongs to the family of requiem sharks. It can be found in the warm tropical waters of North Atlantic from the North Carolina to the Brazil. Young blacknose sharks live in shallow coastal water filled with sea grass and corals. Adults live away from the coast, on depth of 30 feet. Number of blacknose sharks is dropping due to overfishing (because of their fins and meat) and bycatch (young sharks end up trapped in the shrimp trawl fisheries). Blacknose shark is listed as near threatened, which means that it may become endangered in the near future.
Interesting Blacknose shark Facts:
Blacknose shark can reach 4.1 to 4.6 feet in length and 22 pounds of weight.
Blacknose shark is grey or greenish-gray colored. Belly is white or yellow-colored. Tips of dorsal fin and upper lobe of caudal fin are black or dusky-colored. It has black spot (especially pronounced in young animals) below the snout, hence the name - blacknose shark.
Skin of blacknose shark is covered with dense, overlapping scales called denticles. Each denticle has 3 to 7 longitudinal ridges and 3 to 5 marginal teeth.
Blacknose shark has elongated, rounded snout, large eyes and slender body. It has 5 short gill slits.
Blacknose shark has 12 to 13 rows of teeth in the upper jaw and 11 to 12 rows of teeth in the lower jaw. Teeth are narrow, triangular and serrated on the edges.
Blacknose shark is quick swimmer and voracious predator that feeds on fish (pinfish, porcupine fish, box fish, puffer fish and anchovies) and cephalopods (octopus).
Blacknose shark lives in large groups that often follow schools of fish such as mullet and anchovies.
Natural enemies of blacknose shark are large species of sharks such as dusky shark.
Blacknose sharks don't attack humans but they show signs of aggressions: arched back, low-positioned pectoral fins and raised head, when faced with divers.
Blacknose sharks migrate toward the north (or away from the shore) during the summer and return back to the south (or close to the shore) during the winter.
Mating season of blacknose sharks takes place from May to July.
Female gives birth to 3 to 6 live sharks (viviparous species) after 10 to 11 months of gestation. Young sharks are 17 to 20 inches long at birth. They spend first days of their life in the mangrove swamps or coastal bays such as Bulls Bay in the South Carolina (one of the well known nurseries).
Blacknose sharks from the Gulf of Mexico reproduce each year, while blacknose sharks in the Northwestern Atlantic breed once every two years.
Blacknose sharks reach sexual maturity at the length of 3 feet, usually at the age of 4 years.
Male blacknose sharks live from 4.5 to 9 years. Females can survive from 10 to 16 years.


Related Links:
Facts
Animal Facts
Animals Facts