Blacktip Reef Shark

Photo: Poseidon’s Adventure · CC BY-NC

Blacktip reef sharks are the defining apex predators of shallow tropical reef systems, patrolling water as shallow as 30 centimetres in pursuit of reef fish, octopus, and occasionally squid near the surface. Their black-tipped fins create an unmistakeable silhouette that makes them instantly recognisable, and individual sharks can be identified by the distinctive patterns of white and black on their fins. At Rodrigues they share the reef with grey reef sharks in a spatial partition, with blacktips occupying the shallower reef flat zone and greys taking the deeper reef slope.