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White shark
(Hawaiian: niuhi)
Carcharodon carcharias
Length: Up to 21 ft or more
Description: Gray with white underside;
large; conical snout; large gill slits; sharp triangular
teeth; strong keel and nearly symmetrical tail
Food: Eats variety of bony fishes,
sharks and rays, marine mammals, carrion, occasionally
sea turtles and birds
Habitat: Rare in Hawaiian waters
Shortfin mako shark
Isurus oxyrinchus
Length:
up to 14 ft
Description: Short pectoral fins; very
pointed conical snout with long dagger-like teeth; tail
lobes nearly equal in size; pronounced keel at base of
tail
Food: Eats variety of fishes including
tunas, mackerels, sharks
Habitat: From depths of 114-918 ft
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Silky shark
Carcharhinus falciformis
Length: Up to 10 ft, most are much
smaller
Description: Brownish-gray, large shark
with small rounded dorsal fin, an interdorsal ridge and
no distinctive markings
Food: Eats bony fishes, including
mackerels and tunas, cephalopods, pelagic crabs
Habitat: In Hawaii, rarely appears in
coastal waters
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Blue shark
Prionace glauca
Length: Up to
12-13 ft, possibly up to 20 ft
Description: Bluish gray, large slender
shark with pointed snout, long pectoral fins, and
anterior
Food: Eats cephalopods, small bony
fishes, crustaceans, mammalian carrion.
Habitat: Vertically migrates between
the surface and 1,800 ft during the day and surface and
600 ft at night; near islands remains offshore during
summer months, but appears to move closer to shore at
twilight in the spring, returning to open ocean before
sunrise
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Whale shark
Rhincodon typus
Length: Possibly up to 60 ft, usually
13-40 ft; world's largest fish
Description: A nearly terminal mouth,
300 rows of backcurved teeth (which are not used in
feeding) and a unique checkerboard spot pattern on the
body
Food: Eats wide variety of plankton and
nekton, including small fishes, crustaceans, squid
Habitat: Often seen feeding at the
surface; reported caught between 8,500 to 15,000 ft; in
Hawaii, rarely found north of Kauai
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Thresher shark
(Hawaiian: mano hi‘uka or mano laukahi‘u)
Alopias pelagicus
Length:
Up to about 11 ft, generally under 10 ft
Description:
Very long tail, almost as long as rest of body;
bluish-black
dorsally becoming lighter on sides, off-white ventrally
with white
coloration not extending above pectoral insertions
Food:
Eats squid and bony fishes; stuns prey with tail before
feeding
Habitat:
Pelagic waters from the surface to depths of over 500 ft
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Oceanic whitetip shark
Carcharhinus longimanus
Length: Up to 13 ft, generally less
than 10 ft
Description: Gray; mottled tail and fin
tips; enlarged first dorsal fin and long, paddle-shaped
pectoral fins
Food: Eats pelagic fishes, cephalopods,
sea turtles, sea birds, marine mammal carrion
Habitat: From the surface to 500 ft,
most abundant in the tropics
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Megamouth shark
Megachasma pelagios
Length: Up to 18 ft
Description: Blackish brown on back and
sides, creamy underside; large head and huge distending
mouth; large fleshy tail; white-tipped pectoral fins
Food: Eats mostly pelagic crustaceans,
some jellyfishes
Habitat: Presumed vertically migratory
from 40 to 82 ft at night and 394 to 634 ft during the
day; extremely rare;
discovered off O‘ahu in 1976.
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Cookiecutter shark
Isistius brasiliensis
Length: Up to 20 in
Description: Brownish black with a dark
collar around the gill region and bright green eyes;
sometimes referred to as the “cigar” shark; small dorsal
fins are at the rear of its body
Food: Eats squid, small fish,
crustaceans; also bites of flesh from larger fishes,
cetaceans and sharks
Habitat: Caught at night, sometimes at
surface or at depths up to 11,500 ft
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