Caribbean Reef Shark

• It rests on the bottom: it has been seen motionless in caves and under overhangs, a stillness uncommon among large sharks, most of which must swim in order to breathe.
• It is the economic basis of shark diving in the Caribbean: a single living animal generates far more tourist income over its lifetime than its value to fisheries, an argument that has driven the creation of shark sanctuaries in the Bahamas and other countries.
• Its decline, which has taken it to the endangered category, is due above all to fishing for its fins and to the degradation of the reefs it depends on.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - cartilaginous skeleton (fish)

Habitat and environment

Coral reefs and outer drop-offs of the Caribbean and the tropical western Atlantic

Sexual maturity

7 years

Gestation / incubation

12 months of gestation

Litter / clutch size

5 live young

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List · Animal Diversity Web · Wikipedia (es)