Description
The blacktip shark has a robust, streamlined body with a long, pointed snout and relatively small eyes. The five pairs of gill slits are longer than those of similar requiem shark species. The jaws contain 15 tooth rows on either side, with 2 symphysial teeth (at the jaw midline) in the upper jaw and 1 symphysial tooth in the lower jaw. The teeth are broad-based with a high, narrow cusp and serrated edges. The first dorsal fin is tall and falcate (sickle-shaped) with a short free rear tip; there is no ridge running between the first and second dorsal fins. The large pectoral fins are falcate and pointed.
The coloration is gray to brown above and white below, with a conspicuous white stripe running along the sides. The pectoral fins, second dorsal fin, and the lower lobe of the caudal fin usually have black tips. The pelvic fins and rarely the anal fin may also be black-tipped. The first dorsal fin and the upper lobe of the caudal fin typically have black edges. Some larger individuals have unmarked or nearly unmarked fins. Blacktip sharks can temporarily lose almost all their colors during blooms, or "whitings", of coccolithophores. This species attains a maximum known length of 2.8 m (9.0 ft), though 1.5 m (4.9 ft) is more typical, and a maximum known weight of 123 kg (271 lb).
Read more about this topic: Blacktip Shark
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this World: he that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be little the better for anything else.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)
“Do not require a description of the countries towards which you sail. The description does not describe them to you, and to- morrow you arrive there, and know them by inhabiting them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)