South Africa country information

Common names: Donkerhaai, Dusky shark
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: commercial | Ref: van der Elst, R.P. and F. Adkin (eds.), 1991
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: no regulations | Ref: van der Elst, R., 1993
Uses: gamefish: yes;
Comments: Ranges from Natal to False Bay. Common off Natal. Follows sardine shoals up and down the coast. Nursery grounds occur off Natal and the eastern Cape. Juveniles comprises a large part of recreational tournament catch; commercially fished on Natal coast (Ref. 4332). Caught in Natal shark nets. Angling record 326.6 kg; spearfishing record 26.4 kg (Ref. 12484). Also Ref. 244, 5485.
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Compagno, L.J.V., D.A. Ebert and M.J. Smale, 1989
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Requin de sable, Tiburón arenero, Shark, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Carcharhiniformes (Ground sharks) > Carcharhinidae (Requiem sharks)
Etymology: Carcharhinus: karcharos (Gr.), sharp or jagged; rhinus, an ancient name for sharks, from rhine (Gr.), rasp, both words alluding to a shark's jagged, rasp-like skin. (See ETYFish); obscurus: Latin for dark, probably referring to its darkish blue-gray body color. (See ETYFish).
More on author: Lesueur.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; reef-associated; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 400 m (Ref. 244), usually 200 - 400 m. Subtropical; 45°N - 46°S, 120°W - 156°E (Ref. 55186)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Atlantic: southern Massachusetts to Florida (USA), Georges Bank, Bahamas, Cuba, northern Gulf of Mexico, Nicaragua, southern Brazil and Uruguay (Ref. 58839). Eastern Atlantic: Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Senegal, Sierra Leone. Some records from the Mediterranean and Madeira may be based on Carcharhinus galapagensis. Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea (Ref. 5485), Mozambique and South Africa to Japan, China, Viet Nam and Australia. Eastern Pacific: southern California, USA to Gulf of California and the Revillagigedo Island. Highly migratory species.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 249.5, range 220 - 300 cm
Max length : 420 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5578); common length : 250 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26999); max. published weight: 346.5 kg (Ref. 4699); max. reported age: 40 years (Ref. 31395)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Anal spines: 0. A large shark with a broadly rounded snout, triangular saw-edged upper teeth, curved moderate-sized pectoral fins, and an interdorsal ridge (Ref. 5578). Blue-grey, lead-grey above, white below; tips of pectoral and pelvic fins, as well as lower lobe of caudal fin and dorsal fins often dusky in young, plain in adults (Ref. 9997).

Found in coastal and offshore waters but not oceanic (Ref. 5578). Adults are commonly found at depths of 200-400 m, young in shallower waters (Ref. 5485). A seasonal migratory species over parts of its range (Ref. 6871). Common component of the catch of the shark longline fishery (Ref.58048). Feeds on bottom and pelagic bony fish, sharks, skates, rays, cephalopods, gastropods, crustaceans, sometimes mammalian carrion and inorganic objects (Ref. 5578). Viviparous (Ref. 50449); with litter size number from 3-14 (Ref. 27549). Large adults are potentially dangerous (Ref. 4716, 6871). Utilized fresh, dried-salted, frozen and smoked for human consumption; hides for leather; fins for sharks-fin soup; and liver oil extracted for vitamins (Ref. 244).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Viviparous, with a yolk-sac placenta, litter size 3-14 pups (Ref. 244); 70-100 cm at birth (Ref. 6871). Gestation period of ~ 16 months (Ref.58048). Distinct pairing with embrace (Ref. 205).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Compagno, Leonard J.V. | Collaborators

Compagno, L.J.V., 1984. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2 - Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/2):251-655. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 244)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Endangered (EN) (A2bd); Date assessed: 06 November 2018

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Appendix II: International trade monitored

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Appendix II: Migratory species conserved through agreements

Threat to humans

Traumatogenic (Ref. 4690)

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes

FAO(Fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 8.7 - 18.6, mean 12.6 (based on 736 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00759 (0.00428 - 0.01346), b=3.08 (2.93 - 3.23), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.3 ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (rm=0.02; also Musick et al. 2000 (Ref. 36717)).

Prior r = 0.09, 95% CL = 0.06 - 0.13, Based on 1 data-limited stock assessment.

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Very high vulnerability (88 of 100).

Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649): High vulnerability (62 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Medium.

Carcharhinus obscurus (Lesueur, 1818)