Bigeye thresher
Alopias superciliosus
Size, compared with you
You: 1.7 m. Bigeye thresher: 4.9 m.
Bigger than a car. Grows up to about 4.9 m.
The bigeye thresher is a big shark with a super long tail and huge eyes. It spends the day in deep, dark water and swims up near the surface at night to hunt.
The weird bit
Its tail makes up nearly half of its length, and scientists think it probably uses the tail like a whip to stun its prey. Its eyes are huge and point upward, which helps it spot prey in dim light.
Quick facts
- Where it lives
- Open ocean, Coast and shallows0 to 723 m down
- What it eats
- Fish such as mackerel and herring, plus squid
- How worried are we?
- In trouble (Vulnerable)Assessed in 2018 by the IUCN Red List.