Blacktip reef shark
Amazing fact
Blacktip reef sharks use special cells in their snouts to sense electrical currents from nearby prey.
Seattle Aquarium
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Blacktip reef sharks use special cells in their snouts to sense electrical currents from nearby prey.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Blacktip reef shark
- Scientific name
- Carcharhinus melanopterus
- Japanese name
- ツマグロ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Chondrichthyes
- Order
- Carcharhiniformes
- Family
- Carcharhinidae
- Genus
- Carcharhinus
It lives from the Pacific coast of southern Japan and the Ryukyu Islands to the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.
How the Blacktip reef shark lives
They hunt by day in small groups, feeding mainly on reef fish and cephalopods such as squid and octopuses. They have been seen herding schools of mullet toward shore, making them easier to catch. They rarely travel far from their usual area. Females give birth to young developed inside their bodies rather than laying eggs outside.
Aquarium of the PacificSeattle AquariumBasic data
- Range
- Pacific coast of southern Japan, Ryukyu Islands, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean
Where the Blacktip reef 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
- ツマグロ
- 简体中文
- 乌翅真鲨
- 繁體中文
- 汙翅真鯊
- 한국어
- 흑기흉상어
- Français
- Requin à pointes noires
- Deutsch
- Schwarzspitzen-Riffhai
- Português (Brasil)
- Tubarão-de-pontas-negras-do-recife
- Italiano
- Squalo pinna nera del reef
- العربية
- قرش الشعاب أسود الطرف
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Hiu Karang Sirip Hitam
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá mập vây đen
- Русский
- Мальгашская ночная акула
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 — ツマグロChecked: 2026-11-04
- Aquarium of the Pacific — Blacktip Reef SharkChecked: 2026-11-07
- Seattle Aquarium — Blacktip reef sharkChecked: 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.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Carcharhinidae
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