Tiger shark
Amazing fact
Young tiger sharks have stripes that fade as they grow.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Young tiger sharks have stripes that fade as they grow.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Tiger shark
- Scientific name
- Galeocerdo cuvier
- Japanese name
- イタチザメ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Chondrichthyes
- Order
- Carcharhiniformes
- Family
- Galeocerdonidae
- Genus
- Galeocerdo
A shark that lives in warm seas around the world, from near the coast out to the open ocean.
It also turns up on coral reefs and in sheltered bays where seawater and river water mix.
How the Tiger shark lives
They hunt at night. Sense organs on the snout detect electrical signals given off by fish. Their serrated teeth can break through sea turtle shells. Usually solitary, they sometimes gather to feed on a large carcass.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Range
- Ogasawara Islands, Ryukyu Islands, East China Sea, Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, tropical and subtropical seas worldwide, and elsewhere
- Conservation status in Japan
- Data Deficient (DD)Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Marine Red List (2017)
Where the Tiger shark has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- イタチザメ
- 简体中文
- 鼬鲨
- 繁體中文
- 鼬鯊
- 한국어
- 뱀상어
- Español
- Tiburón tigre
- Français
- Requin-tigre
- Deutsch
- Tigerhai
- Português (Brasil)
- Tubarão-tigre
- Italiano
- Squalo tigre
- العربية
- قرش ببري
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Hiu macan
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá nhám hổ
- Русский
- Тигровая акула
- Türkçe
- Kaplan köpek balığı
- ไทย
- ปลาฉลามเสือ
- বাংলা
- বাঘ হাঙ্গর
- اردو
- ٹائیگر شارک
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — イタチザメChecked: 2026-11-04
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Galeocerdo cuvierChecked: 2026-11-05
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Marine Red List (2017)Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
The conservation status in Japan is the category in the Red Lists of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, which assess the risk of extinction for wild animals in Japan.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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