Carcharhinus longimanus (Poey, 1861)

Ebert, David A., Wintner, Sabine P. & Kyne, Peter M., 2021, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of South Africa, Zootaxa 4947 (1), pp. 1-127 : 64

Carcharhinus longimanus (Poey, 1861)

Oceanic Whitetip Shark

Squalus longimanus Poey, 1861: 338 , pl. 19 (figs. 9, 10). No type known. Type locality: Cuba, Western Atlantic .

Local synonymy: Carcharias (Prionodon) lamia : Lampe, 1914: 213, fig. 1. Pterolamiops magnipinnis : Smith, 1958b: 131, fig. 1c, pl. 1 (original description, Port Elizabeth); Smith, 1958c: 16; Smith, 1961a: 565, pl. 108. Pterolamiops magripinnis : Smith, 1961b: 20, pl. Carcharhinus longimanus: D’Aubrey, 1964a: 28 , pl. 12; Davies, 1964: 184, pl. 7; Bass et al., 1973: 49, fig. 19; Compagno, 1984b: 484, fig.; Bass et al., 1986: 74, fig. 9.11; Compagno, 1988a: 7; Compagno et al., 1989: 70, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 120; Compagno et al., 2005: 300, fig., pl. 50; Ebert et al., 2013 a: 470, fig., pl. 61; NPOA, 2013: 42; Ebert & Dando, 2014: 39, fig.; da Silva et al., 2015: 246; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 146; Compagno, 2016: 1311; Weigmann, 2016: 858.

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 6045 [ex ORI 415d], SAIAB 6291 [ex ORI 2690], SAIAB 39375 [ex ORI 5715], SAIAB 202985.

South African distribution: South of Cape Point (WC) to the KZN border with Mozambique.

Remarks: Carcharhinus longimanus exhibits distinct ontogenetic changes with growth, which led earlier researchers to describe new species regionally. Smith (1958b) described C. magnipinnis from a small female of 135 cm TL from Algoa Bay (EC) based on growth differences between it and a larger (~ 200–250 cm TL) individual without realizing these differences were growth-related. The species was quite common offshore in KZN, but also appears to move to the west to off Cape Point (WC), including small juveniles. A small juvenile (~ 120 cm TL) was caught off Cape Point (D.A. Ebert, unpubl. data).

Conservation status: CR (2019).