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 White shark (Hawaiian: niuhi)
Carcharodon carcharias
Length: Up to 21 ft or more
Description: Gray with white underside; large; conical snout; large gill slits; sharp triangular teeth; strong keel and nearly symmetrical tail
Food: Eats variety of bony fishes, sharks and rays, marine mammals, carrion, occasionally sea turtles and birds
Habitat: Rare in Hawaiian waters
Shortfin mako shark
Isurus oxyrinchus
Length: up to 14 ft
Description: Short pectoral fins; very pointed conical snout with long dagger-like teeth; tail lobes nearly equal in size; pronounced keel at base of tail
Food: Eats variety of fishes including tunas, mackerels, sharks
Habitat: From depths of 114-918 ft
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Silky shark
Carcharhinus falciformis
Length: Up to 10 ft, most are much smaller
Description: Brownish-gray, large shark with small rounded dorsal fin, an interdorsal ridge and no distinctive markings
Food: Eats bony fishes, including mackerels and tunas, cephalopods, pelagic crabs
Habitat: In Hawaii, rarely appears in coastal waters
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Blue shark
Prionace glauca
Length: Up to 12-13 ft, possibly up to 20 ft
Description: Bluish gray, large slender shark with pointed snout,
long pectoral fins, and anterior
Food: Eats cephalopods, small bony fishes, crustaceans, mammalian
carrion.
Habitat: Vertically migrates between the surface and 1,800 ft during
the day and surface and 600 ft at night; near islands remains offshore
during summer months, but appears to move closer to shore at twilight
in the spring, returning to open ocean before sunrise
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Whale shark
Rhincodon typus
Length: Possibly up to 60 ft, usually 13-40 ft; world's largest fish
Description: A nearly terminal mouth, 300 rows of backcurved teeth (which are not used in feeding) and a unique checkerboard spot pattern on the body
Food: Eats wide variety of plankton and nekton, including small fishes, crustaceans, squid
Habitat: Often seen feeding at the surface; reported caught between 8,500 to 15,000 ft; in Hawaii, rarely found north of Kauai
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 Thresher shark
(Hawaiian: mano hi‘uka or mano laukahi‘u)
Alopias pelagicus
Length: Up to about 11 ft, generally
under 10 ft
Description: Very long tail, almost
as long as rest of body; bluish-black
dorsally becoming lighter on sides, off-white ventrally with white
coloration not extending above pectoral insertions
Food: Eats squid and bony fishes;
stuns prey with tail before feeding
Habitat: Pelagic waters from the surface
to depths of over 500 ft
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Oceanic whitetip shark
Carcharhinus longimanus
Length: Up to 13 ft, generally less than 10 ft
Description: Gray; mottled tail and fin tips; enlarged first dorsal fin and long, paddle-shaped pectoral fins
Food: Eats pelagic fishes, cephalopods, sea turtles, sea birds, marine mammal carrion
Habitat: From the surface to 500 ft, most abundant in the tropics
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Megamouth shark
Megachasma pelagios
Length: Up to 18 ft
Description: Blackish brown on back and sides, creamy underside; large head and huge distending mouth; large fleshy tail; white-tipped pectoral fins
Food: Eats mostly pelagic crustaceans, some jellyfishes
Habitat: Presumed vertically migratory from 40 to 82 ft at night and 394 to 634 ft during the day; extremely rare; discovered off O‘ahu in 1976.
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Cookiecutter shark
Isistius brasiliensis
Length: Up to 20 in
Description: Brownish black with a dark collar around the gill region and bright green eyes; sometimes referred to as the “cigar” shark; small dorsal fins are at the rear of its body
Food: Eats squid, small fish, crustaceans; also bites of flesh from larger fishes, cetaceans and sharks
Habitat: Caught at night, sometimes at surface or at depths up to 11,500 ft Back
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