How to Spot a Blacktip Shark

Named for distinctive black tips on its fins, the blacktip shark also goes by blackfin shark, black-tipped shark, small blacktip shark and spot-fin ground shark. Potentially dangerous but never fatal, blacktip sharks do attack, both unprovoked and provoked. They make up roughly 15 percent of shark attacks off the Florida coast, often biting surfers. To spot a blacktip shark, follow these steps.

Instructions

1. Locate blacktip sharks in subtropical to tropical shelf, island and coastal waters. They also venture near river mouths, into bays and estuaries but not too far into freshwater. Blacktips do go offshore, over deep waters near coral reefs, but they tend to keep to 100 feet and above.

2. Watch for blacktip sharks in the eastern and western Atlantic, the Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Blacktips are most abundant in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

3. Look for a shark roughly 5 to 8 feet in length, with a dark blue-gray to brown top and white underneath. Blacktips also have a distinctive white band across their flank.

4. Examine the blacktip shark for a stout body and long, pointed snout. All of its fins, except the anal, display distinct black tips. Its pectoral fins are large and pointed. Its narrowly pointed first dorsal fin sits high just behind the pectoral fin.

5. Identify the blacktip's dentition by its long, straight, pointed teeth, with a broad base in both its upper and lower jaws. They have finely serrated lower teeth and the upper teeth have a coarser serration along the cusp and crown.

6. Notice their social habits. Blacktips often come inshore in large schools, especially with Spanish mackerel. In the Atlantic, they migrate seasonally in large groups up to Nova Scotia.

7. Note the blacktip shark's diet and feeding habits. They attack fish schools at high speeds, often spinning around their axis several times and propelling them above the ocean's surface. They mainly feed on schooling fish such as anchovies, herring, mullet and sardines, but they also eat bony fish, young sharpnose and dusky sharks, skates and stingrays.

Tips & Warnings

• Blacktips are a near-threatened species, due to their popularity among commercial fisheries. People worldwide eat their meat and in Asia their fins.