If you’re surfing the North Island beaches this summer don’t be surprised if the other sleek bronze body next to you riding the waves is that of a bronze whaler shark, this week’s #SharkTale.
Bronze whaler sharks are commonly found around the northern half of the North Island during #spring and #summer, when they move into shallow (sometimes very shallow) coastal waters where they feed on fish such as kahawai, mullet, snapper, kingfish and eagle rays.
The bronze whaler (Carcharhinus brachyurus), as the name suggests, is bronze to grey-brown in colour. If you see them above you when you are diving their underbellies are cream in colour. The upper lobe of the tail is pretty long (not long like the thresher sharkhttps://www.facebook.com/NIWASharks/photos/pcb.1027710113914211/1027709380580951/?type=3&theater) but 2 – 3 times longer than the lower tail lobe (see picture).
Bronze whaler sharks will take about 30 years to reach a maximum size of 3 m in length but you will rarely see any that big, with most sharks between 1.5 – 2.5 m. Described as slow growing and late to mature (much like humans) bronze whalers take 15 – 20 years (~ 2.2 m long) before they can have babies, with mothers giving birth to around 16 – 20 pups (not like humans!).
The bronze whaler is one of the most abundant large #shark species in New Zealand coastal waters yet there has surprisingly been no research on the movements of bronze whaler shark populations in New Zealand, until now.
Melissa Kellett, at the University of Waikato, will be the first person to look at the movements of these sharks and her research will take place within #TaurangaHarbour.
The bronze whaler shark is the shark species most likely to be encountered by divers around New Zealand, from Cape Reinga to Cook Strait. They are not normally aggressive towards humans, although spear fishers have been bitten by excited sharks. Bronze whaler sharks will eat live or dead fish, so spear fishers should remove their catch from the water as soon as possible after spearing to avoid being harassed.
During the past decade on average two people have been bitten by sharks each year, so be careful in the water and if they see a shark that is bigger than you, move out of the water.
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