Oceanic whitetip shark
Carcharhinus longimanus
Oceanic whitetips are true open-ocean predators. They usually cruise the warm upper ocean on long rounded fins, but can dive deep, travel far and return to rich offshore areas.
Critically Endangered (IUCN, 2019) means it is at extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
Photos show the species, not always the places on this page.
Length
Commonly about 2.7 m (8.9 ft), most under 3 m (9.8 ft); largest published about 4 m (13.1 ft)
Weight
Typical adult weight not reliably measured; largest recorded about 167 kg (369 lb)
Next to a person
A typical adult is about one-and-a-half times as long as a person
What it eats
Open-ocean fish such as tuna, marlin and mackerel, plus squid, stingrays, sea turtles, seabirds, crustaceans and dead animals.
Around people
Potentially dangerous, respect
How it lives
The oceanic whitetip is a shark of the open ocean. It spends most of its time in the warm upper 200 m, but it can make rare dives deeper than 1,000 m. It usually lives alone but sometimes gathers around food, and it hunts and scavenges widely. Females give birth to live pups, 1 to 14 in a litter and about 6 on average.
Where it goes
Tagged adults travel far and often come back. Seven tagged off Moʻorea travelled 1,625 to 7,885 km over 83 to 286 days, using waters of French Polynesia, Kiribati, the Cook Islands and the high seas, and five returned to Moʻorea. Sharks tagged at Cat Island, Bahamas, moved as far as 1,940 km away, and many returned after about 150 days. These are single tracks, not one fixed migration route.
Populations
Populations differ by region, most strongly between the western Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific. In Hawaiʻi, 383 sharks were identified from 2006 to 2024, and 19.2% were seen with marine mammals, not only pilot whales. French Polynesian sharks are usually 1.7 to 2.5 m long. In Sri Lanka they are known mostly from fisheries records, not from snorkelling or whale-watching trips.
Meet it respectfully
An offshore shark that is rarely seen, and it can be dangerous. Never feed, bait, touch, chase or try to attract one. There is no single rule for everywhere, so follow local rules. In the Red Sea, guidelines advise no swimming or snorkelling where one may be around, and divers stay grouped, descend to 5 m or deeper and back away slowly. Near Moʻorea they are sometimes seen with pilot whales or humpbacks, so whales nearby are never a reason to enter the water.
Fun fact
Tap the bulb to light it up.
Its long, rounded pectoral fins have broad white tips, which gave it its name.
Sharks tagged at Cat Island, Bahamas, travelled as far as 1,940 km from where they were tagged, yet some came back.
It is listed as Critically Endangered worldwide on the IUCN Red List.
In 2024, at least 9 oceanic whitetips and 5 tiger sharks fed together on one whale carcass off Kona, Hawaiʻi, for about 8.5 hours, with no fighting filmed.
Source: Frontiers in Fish Science, 2025, sharks at a whale carcass off Kona
Oceanic whitetips spend most of their time in the top 200 m, but tagged sharks from the Bahamas made short dives down to 1,082 m, into water of about 7.75°C.
Source: Howey-Jordan et al., 2013, PLOS ONE, oceanic whitetip movements in the western North Atlantic
Seven adult oceanic whitetips tagged off Moʻorea spent 97% of their time shallower than 130 m, and the deepest dive recorded was 270 m. Sea water cooler than about 26°C seemed to limit where they went.
Source: Burkhardt et al., 2025, Marine Biology, oceanic whitetip movements in French Polynesia
In French Polynesia, most sightings of this shark are behind groups of pilot whales, near whales, or at fish aggregating devices far from shore.
Source: Observatoire des Requins de Polynésie, shark species list
In Sri Lanka, catching, keeping or selling oceanic whitetips has been banned since 2015, under the Shark Fisheries Management Regulation (Gazette No. 1938/2).
Source: Sri Lanka national report to the IOTC Scientific Committee, 2021
Follow its journey
Choose a journey and watch it travel. Every line comes from satellite tracking or documented research, and the source is named.
StartEndJourney (the line joins documented areas; real paths vary)
Oceanic whitetip shark in the Ocean Atlas
Places we have researched where this animal is recorded. It is never guaranteed, and some places are for watching from the boat only.
Travel with usComing soonTrusted referralExploringOn pause, story onlyEthics pass
Country colour: pink where we travel, blue where we are exploring or refer, grey for story only.
Australia
The Bahamas
Brazil
Cameroon
Colombia
Côte d'Ivoire
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Faroe Islands
France
French Polynesia
Gabon
Germany
Ghana
Greenland
Guinea
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Liberia
Maldives
Mauritania
Mexico
Mozambique
Netherlands
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Portugal
Samoa
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Taiwan
United Kingdom
United StatesSources for this page
- Florida Museum of Natural History, 2026
- FishBase, 2018
- NOAA Fisheries, 2026
- Camargo et al., 2016
- Howey-Jordan et al., 2013
- Scott et al., 2025
- Burkhardt et al., 2025
- Observatoire des Requins de Polynésie
- Fernando and Tanna, 2019, Blue Resources Trust (IOTC)
- Sri Lanka national report to the IOTC, 2021
- Clua et al., 2021
Facts checked 26 September 2026. Photos: Unsplash licence, or Creative Commons as shown on each photo.
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