The silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis), also known by numerous names such as blackspot shark, gray whaler shark, olive shark, ridgeback shark, sickle shark, sickle-shaped shark and sickle silk shark, is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, named for the smooth texture of its skin. It is one of the most abundant sharks in the pelagic zone, and can be found around the world in tropical waters. Highly mobile and migratory, this shark is most often found over the edge of the continental shelf down to 50 m (164 ft). The silky shark has a slender, streamlined body and typically grows to a length of 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in). It can be distinguished from other large requiem sharks by its relatively small first dorsal fin with a curving rear margin, its tiny second dorsal fin with a long free rear tip, and its long, sickle-shaped pectoral fins. It is a deep, metallic bronze-gray above and white below. With prey often scarce in its oceanic environment, the silky shark is a swift, inquisitive, and persistent hunter. It feeds mainly on bony fishes and cephalopods, and has been known to drive them into compacted schools before launching open-mouthed, slashing attacks. This species often trails schools of tuna, a favored prey. Its sense of hearing is extremely acute, allowing it to localize the low-frequency noises generated by other feeding animals, and, by extension, sources of food. The silky shark is viviparous, meaning that the developing embryos are sustained by a placental connection to their mother. Significant geographical variation is seen in its life history details. Reproduction occurs year-round except in the Gulf of Mexico, where it follows a seasonal cycle. Females give birth to litters of up to 16 pups annually or biennially. The newborn sharks spend their first months in relatively sheltered reef nurseries on the outer continental shelf, growing substantially before moving into the open ocean. The large size and cutting teeth of the silky shark make it potentially dangerous, and it has behaved aggressively towards divers. However, attacks are rare, as few humans enter its oceanic habitat. Silky sharks are valued for their fins, and to a lesser extent their meat, hide, liver oil, and jaws. Because of their abundance, they form a major component of commercial and artisanal shark fisheries in many countries. Furthermore, their association with tuna results in many sharks being taken as bycatch in tuna fisheries. Although slow-reproducing like most other sharks, the wide distribution and large population of the silky shark was once thought to buffer the species against fishing pressures. However, data suggest that silky shark numbers are declining around the world, which prompted the IUCN to reassess its conservation status to Vulnerable in 2017.
Taxonomy
A scientific description of the silky shark was first published by the German biologists Johannes Müller and Jakob Henle under the name Carcharias (Prionodon) falciformis, in their 1839 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen. Subsequent authors have assigned this species to the genus Carcharhinus. Because Müller and Henle's type specimen was a 53-cm-long female fetus from Cuba, adult silky sharks were historically not recognized as C. falciformis and were described as a separate species, Carcharhinus floridanus, by Henry Bigelow, William Schroeder, and Stewart Springer in 1943. Jack Garrick, Richard Backus, and Robert Gibbs Jr. synonymized C. floridanus with C. falciformis in 1964. The specific epithet falciformis is Latin for "sickle-shaped", which refers to the outline of the dorsal and pectoral fins. The silky shark's common name comes from the fine texture of its skin compared to other sharks, a product of its tiny, densely packed dermal denticles. It may also be referred to as blackspot shark (usually used for C. sealei), grey reef shark (usually used for C. amblyrhynchos), grey whaler shark, olive shark, reef shark, ridgeback shark, sickle shark, sickle silk shark, sickle-shaped shark, silk shark, and silky whaler.
Phylogeny and evolution
Fossilized teeth belonging to the silky shark have been found in North Carolina: from the vicinity of two baleen whales, one in mud dating to the Pleistocene-Holocene (circa 12,000 years ago) and the other in Goose Creek Limestone dating to the Late Pliocene (circa 3.5 million years ago – Mya), as well as from the Pungo River, dating to the Miocene (23–5.3 Mya). Fossil teeth have also been found in Pliocene strata at the Cava Serredi quarry in Tuscany, Italy. The Aquitanian-aged Khari Nadi Formation of western India likewise has had silky shark fossils recovered from it. The earliest presumed fossil teeth of this species are from the Early Miocene of Malta. †Carcharhinus elongatus, an earlier representative of its lineage with smooth-edged teeth, is known from Oligocene (34–23 Mya) deposits in the Old Church formation of Virginia, and the Ashley formation of South Carolina. A set of poorly described, Eocene (56–34 Mya) teeth resembling those of this species are known from Egypt. Initial efforts to resolve the evolutionary relationships of the silky shark were inconclusive; based on morphology, Jack Garrick in 1982 suggested the blackspot shark (C. sealei) as its closest relative. In 1988, Leonard Compagno assigned it phenetically to an informal "transitional group" also containing the blacknose shark (C. acronotus), the blacktip reef shark (C. melanopterus), the nervous shark (C. cautus), the copper shark (C. brachyurus), and the night shark (C. signatus). More recently, Gavin Naylor's 1992 phylogenetic analysis, based on allozyme sequence data, found that the silky shark is part of a group containing large sharks with a ridge between the dorsal fins. One branch within this group contains the sandbar shark (C. plumbeus) and the bignose shark (C. altimus), while the silky shark is the basal member of the other branch and the sister taxon to a clade containing the Caribbean reef shark (C. perezi), Galapagos shark (C. galapagensis), oceanic whitetip shark (C. longimanus), dusky shark (C. obscurus), and blue shark (Prionace glauca). Mine Dosay-Abkulut's 2008 ribosomal DNA analysis, which included the silky, blue, and bignose sharks, confirmed the closeness of those three species.
Distribution and habitat
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