Distribution and Habitat
The crocodile shark is almost circumtropical in distribution. In the Atlantic Ocean, it is known from off Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Angola, South Africa, and Saint Helena Island, though it has not yet been reported from the northwestern Atlantic. In the Indian Ocean, it occurs in the Mozambique Channel and possibly the Agulhas Current and the Bay of Bengal. In the Pacific, it occurs from Japan, Taiwan, and the Korean Peninsula in the northwest, southward to Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand, and eastward to the western coast of the Americas from Baja California to Chile, including the Marshall, Phoenix, Palmyra, Johnston, Marquesas, Line, and Hawaiian Islands in between.
From distribution records, the crocodile shark's range seems to be bound by the latitudes 37°N and 44°S, where the average sea surface temperature is 20°C (68°F). This species is not evenly distributed but is rather locally abundant in certain areas, suggesting that it is not strongly migratory. The crocodile shark is usually found in the pelagic zone from the surface to a depth of 590 m (1,940 ft). It is occasionally encountered inshore near the bottom and has been known to strand on the beaches of South Africa, possibly after being stunned by upwellings of cold water.
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