Tope shark (school shark)

How it lives

It lives on continental shelves and upper slopes, from the surf zone down to about 550 m (1,800 ft), with records deeper. It gives live birth after about 12 months. Litters are 6 to 52 pups and larger mothers have more. Males mature at about 135 cm (8 to 13 years) and females at about 150 cm (11 to 18 years). FishBase lists a maximum age of 55 years. It forms small schools and shows size and sex segregation.

Where it goes

Highly migratory in cooler waters, with seasonal north-south and inshore-offshore movements. Tagged sharks from the UK have been recovered in the Azores, the Canary Islands and Iceland. In Australia, some have travelled about 1,200 km (750 mi) along the coast, and CMS notes some migrations over 2,000 km. Pups stay in nursery bays for one to two years before moving offshore.

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

Critically Endangered globally (IUCN, assessed 2020). Some older pages still list it as Vulnerable. CMS says most stocks are depleted to varying degrees, with serious depletion in some areas, and that regional status ranges from Critically Endangered in the south-west Atlantic to Least Concern in the eastern North Pacific. It is listed on CMS Appendix II (2020) and as Near Threatened in New Zealand. In the UK it is a Species of Principal Importance in England and Wales. It has been fished for liver oil, meat and fins with gillnets and longlines, and caught as bycatch in trawls.