The whitecheek shark or widemouth blackspot shark (''Carcharhinus dussumieri'') is a

requiem shark Requiem sharks are sharks of the family Carcharhinidae in the order Carcharhiniformes. They are migratory, live-bearing sharks of warm seas (sometimes of brackish or fresh water) and include such species as the tiger shark, bull shark, le ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Carcharhinidae, found in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean between latitudes 34°N and 25°S. It can reach a length of 1 m. It feeds mainly on fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans. It is a

viviparous Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, with the female giving birth to up to four live young. The specific name honours the French explorer and trader

Jean-Jacques Dussumier Jean-Jacques Dussumier (1792–1883) was a French voyager and merchant from Bordeaux. He is known as a collector of zoological species from southern Asia and regions around the Indian Ocean between 1816 and 1840. These collections were later studied ...

(1792-1883).

Description

The whitecheek shark grows to a length around . It has a slender body and long head with a rounded snout. The eyes are oval and both jaws have multiple rows of backward-pointing, serrated teeth. The pectoral fins are long, narrow, and curved and have narrow, pointed tips. The first dorsal fin is triangular, uncurved, and moderately sized, and the second dorsal fin is much smaller than the first and bears a large black patch at its apex. The whitecheek shark's dorsal (upper) surface is grey or brownish-grey, while its ventral (under) surface is pale.

Distribution

The whitecheek shark is native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean, where it is found on continental shelves and inshore slopes around islands down to about . Its

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

extends from the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf to

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

, Indonesia, Japan, and Australia.

Behaviour

The whitecheek shark mostly feeds on fish, but also eats octopus, squid, and various crustaceans including crabs. It sometimes picks off molluscs and

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wo ...

s from the seabed. It is a common species, but not well known, and it is sometimes confused with the

blackspot shark The blackspot shark (''Carcharhinus sealei'') is a small species of requiem shark in the family Carcharhinidae found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific Ocean between latitudes 24°N and 30°S, from the surface to a depth around . Its length is ...

('' Carcharhinus sealei''). Both males and females mature when they are about long. Females are

and breeding takes place throughout the year, with females normally being either pregnant or having recently given birth. One to four, but usually two, pups are retained in the uterus, where they feed from a yolk sac. They are about at the time of birth.

Status

The IUCN lists the whitecheek shark as

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify f ...

in its

Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

because it is often caught in shallow-water fisheries by rod and line,

gillnetting Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

, and

trawling Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different spec ...

. Its population trend seems to be decreasing and it is facing local extinction in some parts of its range. It is usually caught as bycatch rather than as the target species, and in Australian waters, makes up around 2 to 3% of the total biomass caught. It is not harmful to man and its flesh is marketed for human consumption.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q684322

whitecheek shark The whitecheek shark or widemouth blackspot shark (''Carcharhinus dussumieri'') is a requiem shark of the family Carcharhinidae, found in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean between latitudes 34°N and 25°S. It can reach a length of 1 m. It feed ...

Viviparous fish Marine fauna of South Asia Marine fauna of Southeast Asia Taxa named by Johannes Peter Müller Taxa named by Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle