Scoliodon macrorhynchos (Bleeker, 1852)
Pacific spadenose shark

Family:  Carcharhinidae (Requiem sharks)
Max. size:  71.5 cm TL (male/unsexed); 80 cm TL (female); max.weight: 220.9 g
Environment:  demersal; marine
Distribution:  Western Central Pacific: W Indonesia, Malaysia, Gulf of Thailand, Singapore, Borneo, Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan; exceptions, E Indonesia, New Guinea, northern Australia, and remainder of the Oceania region.
Diagnosis:  Vertebrae: 149-171. This small carcharhinid species is distinguished by the following set of characters: snout long and extremely flattened; slender body and tail; smooth-edged teeth with slender, strongly oblique, blade-like cusps and no cusplets; anterior teeth strongly sexually dimorphic, for adult males greatly elongate and flexuous; total tooth row counts 25-28/23-28 rows or 48-56 total rows; second dorsal-fin origin well posterior of anal-fin origin, about opposite posterior third of anal-fin base; second dorsal-fin origin to anal fin origin 6.0-9.1% TL, 1.3-2.5 times second dorsal-fin base; interdorsal space 17.9-22.2% TL; small pelvic fins, anterior margins 41-56% of pectoral anterior margin; first dorsal fin small, broadly triangular, origin behind pectoral fin free rear tips, free rear tip over posterior half of pelvic fin bases, length 12.9-15.5% TL, inner margin 2.1-3.0 in base; second dorsal fin very small, base 2.0-3.5 times height; height 18-27% of first dorsal-fin height; anal fin large, length 11.1-14.1% TL, height 1.7-2.5 times second dorsal-fin height, base 1.9-3.1 times second dorsal-fin base; total vertebral count 149-171, monospondylous precaudal count 44-50, diplospondylous precaudal count 53-64, diplospondylous caudal count 49-59, precaudal count 98-114; colour greenish-bronze dorsally, off white ventrally when fresh; preserved specimens are slate-grey dorsally whitish ventrally with waterline clearly demarcated along head, more diffuse along body, no distinct black spots on fins (Ref. 84283).
Biology:  Adults are found in shallow, inshore waters, most abundant near large freshwater outflows, e.g. Pearl River estuary (Hong Kong) and the large Borneo drainage systems (Ref. 84283).
IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened (NT); Date assessed: 29 April 2020 (A2d) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


Source and more info: www.fishbase.org. For personal, classroom, and other internal use only. Not for publication.