One of Bermuda's favorites, the Reefs Resort and Club is a classic retreat tucked along the island's celebrated South Shore. Family-owned and operated by the Dodwells, their passion for island living is reflected in the love guests have for the resort and how often they return. Named #1 in the region by Conde Nast readers, this inviting hideaway perfectly captures the essence of Bermuda and the cherished traditions that make it a mecca for families, honeymooners and golf enthusiasts.
These sharks prefer the shoreline from Florida to Brazil. This is where it gets the common name from. The tropical parts of the western Atlantic Ocean is home to this variety of sharks. Normally found on the outer edges of reefs, the Caribbean Reef Shark prefers to live in coral reefs and its shallow waters as well as continental shelves and insular shelves. These sharks are found quite commonly at a depth of about 100 feet (30 meters) and are known to dive to incredible depths of around 1250 feet (380 meters).
In California, Reef Check helps ensure the long-term sustainability and health of the nearshore rocky reefs and kelp forests. Reef Check California volunteers are divers, fishermen, kayakers, surfers, boaters, and a wide range of Californians who take a proactive role in making sure that our nearshore ecosystems are healthy and well managed. We monitor rocky reefs inside and outside of California's marine protected areas (MPAs). We work with marine managers, researchers and the public to provide the scientific data needed to make informed, science-based decisions for the sustainable management and conservation of California's ocean environment. We would love your support, volunteer today!
Blacktip reef sharks are viviparous with a yolk-sac placenta, with a gestation period about 10 months and litter size of 2-4 pups. Size at birth ranges from 33-52 cm. Males mature at about eight years of age and 95-105 cm in length; females mature at about 9 years old and a length of 93-110 cm. Courtship features the one or more males following closely behind a female. Reproductive behavior includes distinct pairing with embrace where the male grasps the female's pectoral fin between his teeth and mates belly to belly. There is one breeding season in the central and western Pacific, but two seasons in the Indian Ocean. Females rest for 8-14 month between pregnancies to rebuild their energy stores. Blacktip reef sharks are preyed upon by other sharks and large groupers. The is a socially complex species that performs a variety of group behaviors.
In older literature, the scientific name of this species was often given as C. menisorrah.[5] The blacktail reef shark (C. wheeleri), native to the western Indian Ocean, is now regarded as the same species as the grey reef shark by most authors. It was originally distinguished from the grey reef shark by a white tip on the first dorsal fin, a shorter snout, and one fewer upper tooth row on each side.[6] Based on morphological characters, vertebral counts, and tooth shapes, Garrick (1982) concluded the grey reef shark is most closely related to the silvertip shark (C. albimarginatus).[7] This interpretation was supported by a 1992 allozyme phylogenetic analysis by Lavery.[8]
During mating, the male grey reef shark will bite at the female's body or fins to hold onto her for copulation.[13] Like other requiem sharks, it is viviparous: once the developing embryos exhaust their supply of yolk, the yolk sac develops into a placental connection that sustains them to term. Each female has a single functional ovary (on the right side) and two functional uteruses. One to four pups (six in Hawaii) are born every other year; the number of young increases with female size. Estimates of the gestation period range from 9 to 14 months. Parturition is thought to take place from July to August in the Southern Hemisphere and from March to July in the Northern Hemisphere. However, females with "full-term embryos" have also been reported in the fall off Enewetak. The newborns measure 45–60 cm (18–24 in) long. Sexual maturation occurs at around seven years of age, when the males are 1.3–1.5 m (4.3–4.9 ft) long and females are 1.2–1.4 m (3.9–4.6 ft) long. Females on the Great Barrier Reef mature at 11 years of age, later than at other locations, and at a slightly larger size. The lifespan is at least 25 years.[4][20][24]
Despite sharks being portrayed as notorious aggressive animals, very few incidents have involved blacktip reef sharks, none being fatal. Still the importance of an apex predator is vital to a balanced and healthy ecosystem. Unfortunately, this species is very susceptible to reef gill netting. And sharks all around continue to be threatened by fishing pressure resulting in a decrease in many shark populations.
The Caribbean Reef Shark also finds its food in the reefs such as bony fishes, large crustaceans and cephalopods. This shark is also known to feed on yellow sting-rays and eagle rays quite frequently. A unique feature of these predators is that they are capable of reverting or purging their own stomachs. This helps purge the parasites, mucus or any other objects on the stomach lining.
But another potential cause is that these sharks are skittish around people. So when too many people move into the area, the reef sharks flee to other coral reefs. Indeed, the researchers found far more sharks at small, isolated reefs than they expected. But this in itself is a danger to the reef sharks. With so many sharks concentrated in a small area, "if you really wanted to, you could fish out a few hundred sharks very easily," said Friedlander.
My home in the coral reefs is being damaged by ocean acidification—which occurs when the ocean absorbs carbon and becomes acidified. I love living among thriving reefs, but increasing acidification degrades the physical structure of these reefs, putting my habitat and food supply at risk. This affects all the creatures living among the reef—not just my team of fellow blacktip reef sharks.
On the infrequent occasions when they swim in oceanic waters, grey reef sharks often associate with marine mammals or large pelagic fishes, such as sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus). There is an account of around 25 grey reef sharks following a large pod of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.), along with 25 silky sharks (C. falciformis) and a single silvertip shark.[13] Rainbow runners (Elagatis bipinnulata) have been observed rubbing against grey reef sharks, using the sharks' rough skin to scrape off parasites.[14]
Juvenile Caribbean reef sharks are preyed upon by larger sharks such as the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) and the bull shark (C. leucas). Few parasites are known for this species; one is a dark variegated leech often seen trailing from its first dorsal fin.[4] Off northern Brazil, juveniles seek out cleaning stations occupied by yellownose gobies (Elacatinus randalli), which clean the sharks of parasites while they lie still on the bottom.[10] Horse-eye jacks (Caranx latus) and bar jacks (Carangoides ruber) routinely school around Caribbean reef sharks.[11]
The Caribbean reef shark is a viviparous species, meaning its developing embryos are nourished via a placental connection. The litters average four to six pups. Although this shark's reproduction has not been studied in the northern hemisphere, but to the south, parturition occurs during the Amazon summer of November to December. Pregnant females are often found to have biting scars from males on the sides of their bodies, due to the aggressive behaviors of males during mating. Gestation is believed to take approximately one year. A pregnant female with biting scars and wounds on the sides of her body, taken off the coast of north-northeastern Brazil, carried four near-term embryos. One was a 27.5 in. (700 mm) long male and three were females measuring 27.0 in. (685 mm), 27.4 in. (697 mm), and 27.7 in. (704 mm) in length. Because she was carrying near-term embryos, it is postulated that this area may be a pupping ground. Although such captures have shed light on the topic, relatively little is known about the reproduction of the Caribbean reef shark. Much information has been obtained from a pregnant female carrying four near-term embryos off the coast of northeastern Brazil. This female had scars and wounds on her side. Because the shark carried near-term embryos, it is postulated that this area may be a pupping ground.
This sturdy shark is abundant in the Caribbean, and because of its average features, is often confused with other requiem sharks. Usually growing 6.5 to 10 feet long, these are the apex predator of their food web. They have been found 'sleeping' in caves and on the ocean floor, behavior that is still unexplained. There has been concern over eating these sharks because of the build-up of toxins in their flesh, but now they are valued for tourism more than food, which brings its own safety issues.
The Caribbean reef shark was originally described from off the coast of Cuba as Platypodon perezi by Poey in 1876. Bigelow and Schroeder later described the same species as Carcharhinus springeri in 1944 and the reef shark appears in much literature under this scientific name. The genus name Carcharhinus is derived from the Greek "karcharos" = sharpen and "rhinos" = nose. The currently accepted valid name is C. perezi (Poey 1876).
Grey reef sharks feed mainly on bony fishes, with cephalopods such as squid and octopus being the second-most important food group, and crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters making up the remainder. The larger sharks take a greater proportion of cephalopods.[20] These sharks hunt individually or in groups, and have been known to pin schools of fish against the outer walls of coral reefs for feeding.[14] Hunting groups of up to 700 grey reef sharks have been observed at Fakarava atoll in French Polynesia.[21][22] They excel at capturing fish swimming in the open, and they complement hunting whitetip reef sharks, which are more adept at capturing fish inside caves and crevices.[4] Their sense of smell is extremely acute, being capable of detecting one part tuna extract in 10 billion parts of sea water.[13] In the presence of a large quantity of food, grey reef sharks may be roused into a feeding frenzy; in one documented frenzy caused by an underwater explosion that killed several snappers, one of the sharks involved was attacked and consumed by the others.[23]
Barcode of Life ~ BioOne ~ Biodiversity Heritage Library ~ CITES ~ Cornell Macaulay Library ~ Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) ~ ESA Online Journals ~ FishBase ~ Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department ~ GBIF ~ Google Scholar ~ ITIS ~ IUCN RedList (Threatened Status) ~ Marine Species Identification Portal ~ NCBI (PubMed, GenBank, etc.) ~ Ocean Biogeographic Information System ~ PLOS ~ SIRIS ~ Tree of Life Web Project ~ UNEP-WCMC Species Database ~ WoRMS
Reef's twenty year heritage traces back to two brothers from Argentina, who acted on a simple idea to create a high quality, active lifestyle sandal. From this once modest beginning, the Reef brand and the line of Reef sandals has grown too be one of the largest sandal manufacturers in the world, the Universe actually, and has now evolved into a full fledged apparel brand.
The Caribbean Reef Shark is known to be relatively passive and typically doesn't pose much of a threat to scuba divers, snorklers, swimmers, or other humans it comes into contact with. They actually tend to avoid human interaction entirely. As per theInternational Shark Attack Files, there have been 27 attacks documented since 1960, of which none have been fatal. Of those attacks, it's believe that 4 of them were caused because the shark mistakenly thought the person was a food source. The rest of the attacks were provoked attacks such as sharks caught in fishing equipment biting the fisherman.
Every year, Reef Check trains thousands of citizen scientist divers who volunteer to survey the health of coral reefs around the world, and rocky reef ecosystems along the entire coast of California. The results are used to improve the management of these critically important natural resources. Reef Check programs provide ecologically sound and economically sustainable solutions to save reefs, by creating partnerships among community volunteers, government agencies, businesses, universities and other nonprofits.