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Field guide to marine inhabitants - Fishes

Family: Carcharhinidae

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Photo Courtesy of Chad MacFie

Dusky Shark
Prepared by Jessica K. Tokarz

Carcharhinus obscurus 
.
Range:  The Dusky Shark is found worldwide in warm temperate continental waters. In the western Atlantic this species ranges from southern Massachusetts to Florida as well as the Bahamas, Cuba, northern Gulf of Mexico, Nicaragua, and southern Brazil. It’s vertical range extends from the surface to a maximum depth of 1,312ft (400 m).

Similar Species: The Sandbar Shark is very similar in appearance to the Dusky Shark, making it difficult to distinguish between the two. However, the first dorsal fin of the Sandbar Shark is higher and oriented farther forward on the body than the dorsal fin of the Dusky Shark.

 
Sandbar Shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus)
 

Identification: The Dusky Shark exhibits a long streamlined body that is brown to blue-gray to dark gray along the dorsal surface and white below. The first dorsal fin originates over or just beyond the posterior edge of the pectoral fins. A light strip extends from the pelvic fins to the head along its flank. The average size of a Dusky Shark is 8ft (2.6 m).

Note: The Dusky Shark undertakes long temperature-related migrations, moving northward in the summer as water temperatures rise and later retreats southward in the fall as water temperatures drop.

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