Silky shark

Photo: Jane Kempler & Andrew Goldby Freelance · CC BY-NC-ND

Silky sharks are open-ocean predators that follow tuna schools and thermocline edges; sightings at Northwest Point are concentrated from November through April when cooler upwellings push baitfish toward the wall. They are slender and fast, with a distinctively smooth skin texture that gives the species its name. Globally vulnerable due to bycatch in longline tuna fisheries.