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  • English Name : Shortfin mako
  • Local Name : Woshimas miyaru
  • Size : Common to 2 m max. 4 m
  • Family : LAMNIDAE
  • Order : Lamniformes
  • Distinctive Characters: Body moderately slender. Conical pointed snout. Caudal fin lunate. Caudal peduncle extremely broad and well-developed. Pectoral fins distinctly shorter than head.
  • Colour: Dark blue-grey above, white below.
  • Habitat and Biology: Oceanic and coastal, usually in surface waters down to 152 m. Feeds on schooling fish, using its slender and sharply pointed teeth. Also attacks sharks and billfishes. Ovoviviparous without yolk-sac placenta, number of pups per litter 2 to 16.
  • Distribution: Temperate and tropical waters.
  • Remarks: Isurus oxyrinchus is an extremely fast and powerful shark, as its noticeably broad caudal peduncle suggests. It is a potentially dangerous shark. The longfin make (I. paucus Guitar Manday, 1966) is very similar in appearance but has a blunter snout and pectoral fins longer than the head; it probably occurs in Maldivian waters but has not yet been recorded.