Grey reef shark
Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos
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Size, compared with you
You: 1.7 m. Grey reef shark: 2.5 m.
Person-sized. Grows up to about 2.5 m.
The grey reef shark is a fast, nimble hunter that lives on coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific oceans. It often hunts in groups and can pin schools of fish against the outer wall of a reef.
The weird bit
The grey reef shark was the first shark known to perform a threat display: a warning posture where it hunches its back, drops its pectoral fins and swims in an exaggerated side-to-side way.
Quick facts
- Where it lives
- Coral reef, Coast and shallows0 to 280 m down
- What it eats
- Fish and squid, plus octopuses, crabs and lobsters
- How worried are we?
- In danger (Endangered)Assessed in 2020 by the IUCN Red List.