Blacktip reef shark

Photo: Poseidon’s Adventure · CC BY-NC

Blacktip reef sharks are slender, fast-moving sharks easily identified by the black tips on all fins. At Dog Island they are frequently encountered resting motionless in sandy channels between reef patches, a behaviour facilitated by buccal pumping that allows them to breathe without swimming. Active primarily at dusk and dawn, they hunt schooling reef fish using cooperative herding strategies. As shallow-reef apex predators they regulate the abundance of mid-level predators, indirectly maintaining herbivore fish populations that keep algae cropped and coral healthy. Near threatened globally due to fin trade.