Animal
Blacktip reef shark
The blacktip reef shark is a shark that lives near coral reefs. Every one of its fins has a black tip, like it was dipped in ink.
The blacktip reef shark is a medium-sized shark of warm, shallow coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. You can spot it by the black tips on all its fins. It hunts fish, squid and crabs, stays close to its home reef, and gives birth to just a few live pups at a time.
Carcharhinus melanopterus is a requiem shark of shallow Indo-Pacific coral reefs, reef flats and mangroves, usually under 1.6 meters long. It shows strong site fidelity, bears small litters of two to four pups, and is caught in reef fisheries across much of its range; the IUCN uplisted it from Near Threatened to Vulnerable in 2020 after estimating a 30 to 49 percent decline over three generations.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the blacktip reef shark
The blacktip reef shark lives near coral reefs.
It is brown on top and white underneath. Each fin has a black tip. It swims in shallow water where the sea is warm and clear.
The blacktip reef shark is one of the easiest sharks to recognize. Every fin has a black tip, edged with a band of white, and its body is brownish tan on top and white underneath.
It is a medium-sized shark: most adults are under 1.6 meters long, about as long as a grown-up is tall, and the biggest ever measured reached 1.8 meters. It has a short, rounded snout and oval eyes. They are common on coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and around Pacific islands they are one of the most common reef sharks.
Carcharhinus melanopterus is a requiem shark (family Carcharhinidae) of the class Chondrichthyes, the cartilaginous fishes. The Florida Museum describes a medium-sized body with a short, bluntly rounded snout, horizontally oval eyes, no ridge between the dorsal fins, and a brown-tan back with white countershading below and a light band along the flank. Black tips on all fins, set off by white, distinguish it from look-alikes such as the gray reef shark, which is stockier and lacks a black dorsal tip.
Maximum size is generally under 160 centimeters, with a recorded maximum of 180. The teeth are narrow and serrated, 23 to 28 in the upper jaw and 21 to 27 in the lower, and the skin is covered in tooth-like denticles (placoid scales).
Quick facts
- Group
- Fish
- Length
- up to 1.6 m
- Lifespan in the wild
- 15 to 25 years
Where it lives
Blacktip reef sharks live in warm seas.
They swim around coral reefs and in shallow, sandy water. Young sharks often grow up among mangrove trees.
Blacktip reef sharks live in warm tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the coast of Africa and the Red Sea to the islands of the central Pacific. They live around most islands that have coral reefs.
They like shallow, clear water: coral reefs, sandy flats, reef edges and lagoons. Most stay near the surface down to about 75 meters deep. In many places, young sharks grow up in mangrove forests, where the trees' roots stand in the water.
The IUCN describes a common tropical Indo-West Pacific and central Pacific species, from Africa to the central Pacific and most coral reef islands, with records from reefs in the eastern Pacific (Cocos Island, Costa Rica). It has been reported in the Mediterranean, probably arriving through the Suez Canal, as far west as Tunisia; the Florida Museum treats these reports as anecdotal, with no known established population.
It lives from the surface to at least 75 meters on and near coral reefs, reef and sand flats, drop-offs, atolls and shelves, with tidal movements into mangroves; in many places juveniles use mangroves early in life. Home ranges are small: studies in French Polynesia found individuals spending about 70 percent of a year within about 0.3 square kilometers, and long ocean crossings appear uncommon.
Its habitat
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Shallow coral reefs, reef flats, lagoons and mangroves along the coasts of the tropical Indian Ocean and western and central Pacific, from East Africa and the Red Sea to Polynesia. The IUCN also lists many small island nations and territories that are too small to show (including the Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius, Palau, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and French
Places: Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea and 31 more places.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Fiji, Solomon Is., Philippines, New Caledonia and 52 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
What it eats
Blacktip reef sharks eat fish.
They also eat squid, octopus, crabs and shrimp. They hunt on the reef.
Blacktip reef sharks are hunters of the reef. They mostly eat bony fishes, and they also catch squid and octopus (cephalopods), shrimp and crabs (crustaceans) and other mollusks.
Scientists in northern Australia even found that some had eaten snakes: both sea snakes and snakes from the land that had ended up in the water.
The diet is mainly teleost (bony) fishes, plus crustaceans, cephalopods and other mollusks (Florida Museum, citing Stevens 1984, Lyle 1987 and Last and Stevens 2009). Lyle and Timms (1987) reported blacktip reef sharks from northern Australia that had eaten both sea snakes and terrestrial snakes.
As a common predator on reefs, it is also a frequent catch: the IUCN notes that most blacktip reef sharks are taken as incidental catch in fisheries targeting reef fishes, and that it makes up more than half of the sharks landed in small-scale coastal fisheries in Fiji.
Did you know?
Every fin on this shark has a black tip.
All of a blacktip reef shark's fins are tipped in black, with a white band just inside the black.
Black tips on every fin, bordered by white, are the species' clearest field mark.
Black tips and a shark body
A shark's body is smooth and strong.
The blacktip reef shark has a tall fin on its back and black tips on every fin. Its skin is covered in tiny scales shaped like teeth.
Like all sharks, the blacktip reef shark has a skeleton made of cartilage, the bendy material in your ears and nose, instead of bone. Its skin is covered in tiny tooth-shaped scales called denticles.
Its mouth holds narrow teeth with tiny saw-like edges. In the photo on this page, the fin on its back pokes above the surface. Its color pattern, darker above and white below, is called countershading.
Diagnostic features (Florida Museum): black-tipped fins, a first dorsal fin originating over the free tips of the pectorals, a large second dorsal with a short rear tip and no interdorsal ridge. The dentition is narrow and serrated, with erect to oblique cusps in the upper jaw. Denticles are tooth-like placoid scales firmly embedded in the skin.
As a member of the Chondrichthyes, its skeleton is cartilaginous. The Florida Museum notes that size at birth, size at maturity and maximum size all vary from region to region.
Shark pups
Baby sharks are called pups.
A mother blacktip reef shark gives birth to live pups, usually two to four at a time.
Blacktip reef sharks do not lay eggs. The pups grow inside their mother, fed through a connection called a yolk-sac placenta, for about 8 to 16 months, depending on where she lives.
Most litters have 2 to 4 pups, each about 33 to 59 centimeters long at birth. In some places mothers have pups only every other year. On the Great Barrier Reef, males become adults at about 4 years old and females at about 8 and a half.
Reproduction is viviparous with a yolk-sac placenta. Gestation varies by region (8 to 9, 10 to 11 or 16 months), with both annual and biennial cycles reported; mating and birth generally occur in summer and early autumn (Florida Museum). Litters usually hold two to four pups, born at about 30 to 50 centimeters (IUCN) or 33 to 59 centimeters (Florida Museum).
On the Great Barrier Reef males mature at 4.2 years and females at 8.5 years (Chin and colleagues 2013, cited by the IUCN). Ages of wild sharks were estimated up to 15 years, known to be an underestimate, and captives have lived more than 25 years, giving a generation length of about 12 to 17 years.
Staying close to home
Blacktip reef sharks like to stay near their own reef.
They swim around the same places day after day.
Blacktip reef sharks are homebodies. Each one has a small home range around its reef, and most rarely travel far across open ocean. In French Polynesia, scientists found that sharks spent about 70 percent of their time in an area smaller than half a square kilometer.
When they do move, it is usually around the same island or to a neighboring one. They also move with the tides into shallow flats and mangroves.
Tracking shows small home ranges, strong site fidelity and movements tied to the distribution of coral reef habitat (Florida Museum). Average daily activity space has been estimated at about 10 square kilometers, yet individuals spend about 70 percent of a year within about 0.3 square kilometers, and migrations are usually around one island or between neighboring islands (Mourier and Planes 2013).
The Florida Museum notes that the species has occasionally bitten people swimming or wading but does not pose a serious threat, with the International Shark Attack File recording 11 unprovoked bites since 1959.
Did you know?
Some blacktip reef sharks have eaten snakes!
Scientists in northern Australia found sea snakes and even land snakes in the stomachs of blacktip reef sharks.
Lyle and Timms (1987) recorded both sea snakes and terrestrial snakes in the diet of blacktip reef sharks from northern Australia.
Protecting reef sharks
There are fewer blacktip reef sharks than before.
People protect them by making safe areas on reefs where fishing is limited.
In 2020 the IUCN listed the blacktip reef shark as Vulnerable. Many are caught in nets and on fishing lines, often by accident while people fish for reef fishes, and reefs themselves are being harmed by warming seas and pollution.
In places where fishing is carefully controlled, where few people live, or where shark diving brings tourists who want to see live sharks, blacktip reef sharks are still common.
The IUCN assessment (July 2020) lists the species as Vulnerable A2bcd, up from Near Threatened in 2009. Baited underwater video from 254 reefs in 40 jurisdictions (Global FinPrint) suggested a 51.2 percent global decline over three generations (44 years), judged an overestimate, so the decline is estimated at 30 to 49 percent. In the Chagos Archipelago reef shark counts fell from 4.2 per dive in 1970 to 0.4 in 2006.
Threats are fishing with longlines, gillnets, trawls and handlines, much of it bycatch, and declining reef quality from climate change, destructive fishing and poor water. The IUCN notes that low threat levels exist only where fisheries are strictly regulated (for example Australia), human populations are small, or dive tourism supports protection. In parts of South and East Asia it is the only reef shark still found.
IUCN Red List
How is the blacktip reef shark doing in the wild?
- Least Concern
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable (this animal)
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Vulnerable
At high risk of disappearing from the wild.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2
Amazing facts
-
Every fin on this shark has a black tip.
All of a blacktip reef shark's fins are tipped in black, with a white band just inside the black.
Black tips on every fin, bordered by white, are the species' clearest field mark.
-
Some blacktip reef sharks have eaten snakes!
Scientists in northern Australia found sea snakes and even land snakes in the stomachs of blacktip reef sharks.
Lyle and Timms (1987) recorded both sea snakes and terrestrial snakes in the diet of blacktip reef sharks from northern Australia.
-
These sharks like to stay near home.
A blacktip reef shark can spend about 70 percent of a whole year in an area smaller than half a square kilometer.
Individuals in French Polynesia spent about 70 percent of their time within about 0.3 square kilometers over a year.
-
Mother sharks have just a few pups.
A mother usually has only 2 to 4 pups, and in some places only every other year.
The IUCN describes the species' biological productivity as relatively low; litters are small, and in some regions females breed only every other year.
Words to know
- coral reef
- an underwater structure built by tiny animals called corals, home to many fish
- pup
- a baby shark
- cartilage
- a strong, bendy material; shark skeletons are made of it
- denticles
- tiny tooth-like scales that cover a shark's skin
- mangrove
- a tree that grows in salty water along tropical coasts
- bycatch
- animals caught by accident when people fish for something else
Discovery challenge
-
What color are the tips of this shark's fins?
What color are the tips of a blacktip reef shark's fins?
Which field mark identifies a blacktip reef shark?
- Black tips on every fin
- Bright blue tips
- Orange stripes
Show the answer
Black tips on every fin
Its fins have black tips, just like its name says.
Every fin has a black tip with a white band beside it.
Black tips on all fins, accentuated by white, distinguish it from similar reef sharks.
-
Where do blacktip reef sharks live?
Where do blacktip reef sharks usually live?
Which habitat is typical for blacktip reef sharks?
- Deep ocean trenches
- Shallow water around coral reefs
- Rivers in deserts
Show the answer
Shallow water around coral reefs
They swim in warm, shallow water near coral reefs.
They live in shallow, clear water on and near coral reefs, from the surface to about 75 meters.
Shallow coral reefs, reef and sand flats, lagoons and mangroves, to at least 75 meters.
-
How are baby blacktip reef sharks born?
How do blacktip reef shark pups come into the world?
What is the blacktip reef shark's mode of reproduction?
- They hatch from eggs on a beach
- They are born alive
- They hatch from eggs in a seaweed nest
Show the answer
They are born alive
The pups are born alive, two to four at a time.
The pups grow inside their mother and are born alive, usually 2 to 4 in a litter.
Viviparity with a yolk-sac placenta; litters of two to four pups.
-
Where do young blacktip reef sharks often grow up?
Where do young blacktip reef sharks often spend their early life?
Which habitat do juvenile blacktip reef sharks use early in life in many places?
- Among mangrove trees
- In mountain lakes
- Under sea ice
Show the answer
Among mangrove trees
Many young sharks grow up among mangrove trees.
In many places the young use mangroves, where tree roots stand in shallow water.
Juveniles use mangrove systems early in life where these are available (IUCN).
Places where you might see it
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Watch
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Australia
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Watch
Country
Indonesia
Indonesia is a country of about 17,500 islands in Southeast Asia, spread across the Equator between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It has more than 100 active volcanoes, rainforests full of wildlife, and about 286 million people (2025).
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Identify a blacktip reef shark by its black-tipped fins and countershading.
- Describe its shallow reef and mangrove habitat and small home range.
- Explain live birth and small litters in this shark.
- Understand why reef sharks are declining and how protection helps.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might a shark that has only a few pups be hurt more by fishing than a fish that lays thousands of eggs?
- How could dive tourism help protect sharks?
- Why might young sharks grow up in mangroves instead of on the open reef?
Try at home or in class
- Measure 1.6 meters on the floor with tape and compare it with your height.
- Draw a shark from the front and from the side, coloring the tip of every fin black, and label the eyes, mouth, fins and tail.
Key vocabulary: coral reef, pup, cartilage, denticles, mangrove, bycatch
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
- Carcharhinus melanopterus (Blacktip Reef Shark), IUCN Red List assessment 2020 , IUCN
- Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) , Florida Museum of Natural History
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 28, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.