Shark Fact Sheet (and list of common species)

There have been 51 shark attacks this year in U.S. waters, two of which have been fatal. Most U.S. attacks occur in Florida. Incidents in Virginia are extremely rare and incidents in North Carolina are uncommon. The last confirmed attack in Virginia occurred in 1973. There were five nonfatal incidents in North Carolina last year.

The most common shark species found in Virginia waters are sandbar sharks, smooth dogfish, Atlantic sharpnose sharks, and dusky sharks.

Sharks generally feed around dawn and dusk and often move into shallow waters following prey such as menhaden and other small fish. When schools of bait fish are observed near the shore line sharks and other predators may also be near by.

Sharks generally have good vision; however in cloudy or turbid waters (such as the surf zone) they may mistake an arm, foot or elbow for prey and bite. Large species of sharks that usually eat large prey such as sea turtles, large fish and other sharks may also come into shallow surf waters to feed.

Along the coast of the U.S. sharks move north in the spring with warming temperatures, and south again in the fall as water temperatures become cooler.

Today, populations of large sharks are only 50% of what they were in the 1970s because of over fishing. This includes species commonly found in Virginia waters - sandbar sharks, dusky sharks, tiger sharks and sandtiger sharks. (See Common species list for additional details on each species.)

Sharks are susceptible to over fishing, in part, because they are slow growing, sexually mature late (age 12-25) and produce only 8-10 pups every other year. The lower Chesapeake Bay and the lagoons along the Eastern Shore comprise the principal nursery grounds for sandbar sharks, the most abundant large shark species on the Atlantic Coast.

Common Species of Sharks in Virginia Waters

Sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus

• Approximate size: 2.2m (7 feet) total length for females and 1.8 m (5.9 feet) total length for males.
• Range: coastal areas of all tropical and warm temperate oceans and seas.
• Diet: primarily small bottom fishes, mollusks, and crustaceans.
• Depth range: Demersel sharks typically found over muddy or sandy bottoms from the intertidal zone to waters over 200 m (655 feet) deep.
• Migrate seasonally, heading south for the winter and north for the summer.
• Found in Chesapeake Bay and Virginia waters in the summer and fall. The Chesapeake Bay is one of the most important sandbar shark nursery areas in the western Atlantic (Compagno 1984, Murdy et al. 1997).

Dusky shark, Carcharhinus obscurus

• Maximum size: 3.6 m (11.8 feet) total length.
• Range: inhabits warm-temperate and tropical continental waters of the western North Atlantic, and can be found from southern New England south to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico to southern Brazil.
• Depth: from the surf zone out to depths of 400m.
• Diet: consists of numerous fishes such as menhaden, bluefish tunas, mackerels, small sharks and skates.
• This species undertakes long temperature-related migrations along the east coast of the U.S. Animals move north as water temperatures increase with the onset of spring and return south with the onset of fall. (Castro 1983, Compagno 1984, Musick et al. 1993)

Atlantic sharpnose shark, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae

• Maximum size: approximately 1.1 meters (3.6 feet) in length.
• Range: includes the western Atlantic from New Brunswick to Florida, including the Gulf of Mexico.
• Depth: mostly inhabits coastal areas, although it is sometimes found offshore.
• Mostly mature males are found in Virginia waters during the summer but are rarely seen inside the Chesapeake Bay. The Atlantic sharpnose is a year-round resident of the South Carolina and Florida coasts, as well as the Gulf of Mexico
• Diet: includes invertebrates such as the lady crab, long-finned squid and shrimp, as well as small fishes such as the small-mouth flounder. (Compagno 1994, Gelsleichter et al. 1999, Murdy et al 1997)

Blacktip shark, Carcharhinus limbatus

• Maximum size: females 193 cm and males 175 cm.
• Range: inhabits shallow coastal waters to offshore waters from New England to Florida and is numerous in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Often seen at the surface. Jumps from the water rotating several times much like a spinner shark.
• Migrates north seasonally as far as Cape Cod and is common year round in the Southeast U.S.
• Diet: consists of fish, but as juveniles they may eat crustaceans and shrimp. (Dodrill 1977, Clark and von Schmidt 1965)

Spinner Shark, Carcharhinus brevipinna

• Maximum length: 3.0 meters (9.8 feet).
• Range: inhabit continental and insular shelves from close inshore to offshore (depths of 0-100 meters) in the Western Atlantic from North Carolina to the northern Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas, and are occasionally found in southern Virginia waters.
• It is known to form schools and often makes vertical spinning leaps through schools of fish and out of the water.
• Diet: pelagic bony fishes, small sharks, cuttlefish, squids, and octopi. (Compagno 1984)

Sandtiger shark, Carcharias taurus

• Maximum size: approximately 320 cm total length (10 ft).
• Range: Atlantic and Western Pacific Oceans. Western Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Maine to Argentina.
• The sandtiger undertakes seasonal migrations along the Atlantic Coast, inhabiting coastal Virginia and North Carolina waters during summer and fall (particularly September and October).
• Depth range: surf zone to continental shelf edge (0-200 m)
• Diet: bony fishes such as bluefish, flounder, and menhaden; sharks; stingrays; squids; crustaceans. Sandtiger sharks prey heavily upon juvenile sandbar sharks.

Scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini

• Maximum size: approximately 420 cm total length (14 ft)
• Range: Inhabits warm-temperate and tropical coastal waters worldwide. Western Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
• In the mid-Atlantic region the scalloped hammerhead undergoes seasonal migrations, overwintering in warmer Gulf Stream waters south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. These fish arrive in Virginia coastal waters in June, and later migrate south along the coast from August to October.
• Depth range: surf zone to Gulf Stream (0-200 m)
• Diet: menhaden, mullets, flounders, and sciaenids (drums), crustaceans, stingrays, small sharks.

Smooth hammerhead, Sphyrna zygaena

• Maximum size: approximately 400 cm total length (13 ft)
• Range: Inhabits warm-temperate coastal waters. Western Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Florida and Brazil to Argentina.
• Infrequently captured in lower Chesapeake Bay and adjacent coastal waters in summer and fall.
• Depth range: coastal zone to 200 m
• Diet: bony fishes, stingrays, small sharks

Bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas

• Maximum size: less than 3.4 m (11.1 feet).
• Range: all tropical and subtropical waters.
• Diet: Opportunistic feeders, feeding on bony fishes, sharks, rays, turtles, mammals, and invertebrates.
• Depth: found close inshore, in water ranging from 1 m (3 feet) to at least 152 m (500 feet).
• Bull sharks migrate seasonally moving northward along the U.S. Atlantic coast in the summer and southward again when the water cools.
• Bull sharks are uncommon in the Chesapeake Bay and other Virginia waters (Compagno 1984, Murdy et al. 1997).

Tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier

• The maximum length attained by adult tiger sharks is likely 5.5 m (18 feet) for females and 3.7 m (12.1 feet) for males.
• Found in nearly all warm temperate and tropical waters.
• Opportunistic feeders, feeding on bony fishes, sharks, rays, sea turtles, sea snakes, sea birds, marine mammals, carrion, and garbage.
• Tend to have a diel cycle of movement, coming inshore at night and moving into deeper waters during the day.
• Occasional visitors to Virginia waters and are usually found at least 10-20 miles offshore. (Compagno 1984)

Images of sharks are from http://www.fishbase.org and http://www.nefscsharks.nmfs.gov/.