Whitetip reef shark
Triaenodon obesus
Size, compared with you
You: 1.7 m. Whitetip reef shark: 1.6 m.
Person-sized. Grows up to about 1.6 m.
A slim reef shark with white tips on its fins. It spends the day resting in caves and under ledges, then comes out at night to hunt.
The weird bit
Most sharks must keep swimming to breathe. The whitetip can pump water over its gills while it lies still on the seabed.
Quick facts
- Where it lives
- Coral reef8 to 40 m down
- What it eats
- Bony fish, eels, octopus, spiny lobsters and crabs, hunted mostly at night
- How worried are we?
- In trouble (Vulnerable)Assessed in 2020 by the IUCN Red List.