Shortfin mako

How it lives

Males mature at about 7 to 9 years and females at about 18 to 21 years, so each female has few chances to breed. Gestation lasts 15 to 18 months and litters are about 4 to 25 pups, each about 60 to 70 cm long. Females breed roughly every three years. Lifespan is up to about 29 years for males and 32 for females in one study.

Where it goes

Shortfin makos are highly migratory and range through tropical and warm-temperate seas worldwide. Tagging in the North Atlantic has shown journeys of more than 3,000 km. They prefer water warmer than about 16 degrees C and live from the surface to about 500 m.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Globally Endangered (IUCN, 2019), moved up from Vulnerable. It is overfished in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean. In the North Atlantic, biomass is estimated to have fallen about 60 percent since 1950 (Canadian assessment, 2019), and a 2017 ICCAT assessment gave a 90 percent combined probability that the stock was overfished and subject to overfishing. Canada assessed it as Endangered in 2019. It is on CITES Appendix II and CMS Appendix II (since 2008). In 2022 the US found that Endangered Species Act listing was not warranted.