Galapagos Shark

• Before attacking it adopts an unmistakable threat posture, arching its back, dropping its pectoral fins and swimming in a zigzag, a warning that divers learn to recognise and respect.
• It lives tied to isolated islands and seamounts, and the populations of each archipelago barely mix, which leaves each of them vulnerable on its own.
• It is a long-lived, slow-breeding species, with litters of few pups after a gestation of about a year.
• Despite the name, it is not exclusive to the Galápagos: it was described there in 1905, but it is circumtropical and turns up at almost every oceanic island, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
• It can cross stretches of open sea of at least 50 km between islands.
• It performs a very characteristic threat display before attacking: it arches its back, raises its head, lowers its pectoral fins and swims in a spiral. It is a warning, and it is wise to withdraw when it does so.
• Adults eat everything from fish and cephalopods to other sharks, marine iguanas and sea lions; juveniles stay in shallow water to avoid being preyed on by the adults.
• It is easily confused with the dusky shark; it is told apart by its taller dorsal fin.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - cartilaginous skeleton (chondrichthyan)

Habitat & environment

Clear water around tropical oceanic islands and seamounts

Size at birth

From 57 to 80 cm in total length

Sexual maturity

7.7 years

Litter / clutch size

8.7 (average)

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcharhinus_galapagensis