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Carcharhinus longimanus

Lūhia (TN)

Oceanic Whitetip Shark

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Oceanic Whitetip Shark, Whitetip Whaler; German Longimanus; French Requin à Nageories Rondes, Requin Aileron du Large, Requin Océanique

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Lūhia (TS), Rūhia (TW), Palata ?ID (PK); Other Polynesian - Mao Parata (TAH)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE circumtropical, incl. e.Africa - Tuamotus, Hawai‘i - tropical America; n. to Japan; s. to New Caledonia

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group - common; N.Group - common; Marine, pelagic 0-150m, rare on outer reef-slope

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Injurous bite - serious

KEY FEATURES: To 2.7m TL.

Enlarged Image of 'Carcharhinus longimanus'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P				-

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
P			P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Carcharhinus longimanus (Poey, 1861)
SYNONYMS: Pterolamiops longimanus; Squalus longimanus [O]; Squalus maou [probably same species]

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; CHONDRICHTHYES; Carcharhiniformes; CARCHARHINIDAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Cooks: "Common around FADS & with tuna schools throughout both groups" (Sims88); Rarotonga: specimen and photo, nw-FAD, 1km offshore, c.2m, ID Ian Bertram (pers.comm. date?1990s), photo Aymeric Desurmont (SPC). Pukapuka: informant reports at NBSAP meeting, 2/2004.

References:
text p.34 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
plate -035e Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.20 Randall et al. (1990) Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef....
p.40 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 2-04 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
plate 2-12 Allen (1997) Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia....

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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