Sand Tiger Shark
charias taurus
"AKA ragged-tooth in South Africa and gray nurse shark in Australia, ground shark, spotted ragged-tooth shark, slender tooth shark and spotted sand tiger shark. "

Description:   The sand tiger shark's body is stout with equal sized dorsal fins with the first situated on the rear of the body and the second close to the first.  The long tail has no caudal keel. They may have short ribs but never a full rib cage. Although it appears bronze it has a white tummy.  Young sand tigers have brownish yellow or reddish yellow spots on the rear end and tail that fade with age. Anterior to the start of the pectoral fins are five to seven gill slits. 

The upper jaw midline has three rows of large calcified teeth that are smooth with narrow-edged cusps  and one or two small lateral denticles. The teeth of the Sand tiger have upper-anterior teeth that are separated by small intermediate teeth. 
There are 44 to 48 upper teeth and 41 to 46 lower teeth.
The corners of the mouth have very small and numerous teeth giving the Sand tiger shark a truly menacing appearance.  It's teeth jut out of it's jaw when opened.   Their teeth may shed completely over a two-week-period, with the teeth replaced singly or a complete row at one time.  

Their narrow flat snout with nostrils is pointed and slightly upturned. These nostrils can sense blood in the water as little as one part per million and from as far as a mile away.

The shark has fluid-filled canals with hair-like receptors extending along the sides of the head and body that sense vibration, change in pressure sound and movement. They hear low-frequency, pulse-like sounds like that made by an injured or dying fish several miles away.  

These sharks have receptor cells at the base of the snout, lower jaw and around the eyes that detect electrical fields, direction and strength of every living creature.  It is believed that the shark uses the strongest sense first then changing as needed to meet their prey.  They can detect a change in direction not only of other creatures, but to detect changes in the earth's magnetic field for their own navigation.

 Although this is a ferocious-looking fish most Americans consider it harmless and shy around humans (disputed in some parts of the world as being the opposite case where this fish is considered very dangerous).

The eyes are cat-like and slightly farsighted.  The eyes can see in light that is ten times as dim as what the human eye can see.   This ability is due to a shiny reflective pigment called tapetum lucidem, not unlike that found in the eyes of a cat. The Sand tiger shark is nocturnal.

Their fins are fleshy and large providing a hydro-dynamic lift. The long and arching tail has a hook at the end with the upper lobe of the tail being much longer than the lower lobe with a deep notch near the end.   These fish can be over ten feet in length. Sharks are Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) without bones and a flexible cartilage not unlike that in a human nose or ears.

The large liver can take up as much as 90% of their body cavity and be responsible for 25% of their body weight. The liver adds buoyancy due to the oil that has lower gravity than the surrounding water, however, the shark will sink if it stops moving.  The Sand tiger shark is the only shark that we know than can adjust its buoyancy by gulping, burping and expelling air at the surface allowing the shark to hover almost without motion in the water column.
 
Similar Fish:    Indian Sand tiger that has a broader snout.  Their behavior is similar to hammer head sharks.

Where Found:   The sand tiger shark is found shallow waters as well as down to depths of 200 meters (6 ft to 626 ft).  They prefer sandy coastal waters, estuaries, rocky or tropical reefs and shallow bays.  The sand tiger shark lives in the eastern and western Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Pacific ocean, Adriatic Seas and the Mediterranean. Each year they undertake long migrations.  This explains their seasonal appearance for several weeks within a specific time period at the same place.

Size:     Although the maximum length is a approximately 10 1/2 feet there have been reported specimens of 14 feet in total length.  Their maximum weight is approximately 350 lbs.

Atlantic Record:    334 lbs. on 9/8/83  by angler Billy Leider, Ocean City, MD

Bait used:     Tuna belly, cut bait or bloody fish of any kind

Tactics to catch:    Whether fishing from a boat, bridge, pier, kayak you will need a heavy leader about 10 to 15 ft. long, 100+ monofilament, and a 6/0 to 10/0 hook.  If fishing from a boat it is best to float baits at different depths.  It is important to be cautious and not hold the shark by its tail, jaw plates or gills.  Instead, cup your hands around the pectoral fins and pull them towards the sharks body.  Make sure your palms meet at the base of the dorsal fin.  However, do not try to pick up any large shark.  Keep the shark in shallow water as bringing onto the sand may cause the internal organs to be crushed by its own weight.  This is due to the fact that they do not have ribs to protect the organs from the body weight.  Have one person straddle the shark (being careful not to put their body weight on it) while another removes the hook.  Walk the shark into water that is deep enough to for two people to handle it easily.  Go to waist deep water and stand behind the pectoral fins while walking it forward into the current.  The head and tail will begin to move from side to side as a sign that it is ready to be on its own.  Let go and stand back as the shark flees.

Climate   (water temperature range):     Sub-tropical. All warm seas except the eastern Pacific

Reproduction:   The male Sand tiger shark is sexually mature when he reaches an approximate length of 6.3 feet and four to five years of age.  The female shark is sexually mature when she reaches an approximate length of 7.2 feet  and six years of age.   The Sand tiger female bears live young (ovoviviparous) after nine to twelve months gestation.  Each shark has a separate uterine chamber in which it shared with its siblings and other 15 to 20 developing eggs until it is able to tear open its egg and swim to the uterus and cannibalize its siblings, embryos and other unfertilized eggs for the remainder of its gestation.  The "pup" will be nearly three feet long at birth.  Where bony fish may have millions of eggs the shark will have fewer than 100.

It is the opinion of experts that the male will grasp the female's fins with his mouth, leaving deep cuts and gashes behind her head, and use his two claspers (reproductive organs that are located between his two pelvic fins) to mate with her. These injuries usually heal with a few weeks.  Sand tiger sharks gather in groups to mate.

Table food?    The Sand tiger meat is sold fresh, frozen, smoked, dried-salted and the fins are sold in oriental markets for shark-fin soup. Shark meat, if properly prepared is good.  England serves "fish and chips" which is often shark meat.  The meat will spoil quickly and is often strongly flavored unless iced for 24 hours then a good brine soak for another two hours.    The shark liver should never be eaten.

Consumption Concerns:    There are consumption concerns regarding the Sand tiger shark due to its high mercury levels.

Feeding habits:     The sand tiger shark eats mainly bony fish such as herring, snappers, eels, mackerels, rays, squid,crustaceans and occasionally small sharks.  They swallow their food whole.  The Sand tiger shark eats very little - only about 2% of their body weight each week. They have been known to hunt in packs herding swarms of fish and attacking them at the same time as a group.

Remarks:    Marketable oil is rendered from the liver.  There is a shark fin trade and the shark's hide is tanned to a fine leather.

There is a conservation alert by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) declaring the Sand tiger shark as a candidate species for the US Endangered Species list.

Shark-suckers attach themselves to the undersides of the Sand tiger shark in order to catch bits of meat, however, sometimes if careless they become the meal.

They have a recorded life span of up to 25 years.