Bignose Shark - Distribution and Habitat

Distribution and Habitat

Patchy records from around the world indicate the bignose shark probably has a circumglobal distribution in tropical and subtropical waters. In the Atlantic Ocean, it occurs from Delaware Bay to Brazil, in the Mediterranean Sea, and off West Africa. In the Indian Ocean, it is known in South Africa and Madagascar, the Red Sea, India, and the Maldives. In the Pacific Ocean, it has been recorded from China to Australia, around Hawaii, and from the Gulf of California to Ecuador. It is reportedly common off Florida, the Bahamas, and the West Indies, and rare off Brazil and in the Mediterranean.

The bignose shark is found near the edge of the continental shelf and over the upper continental slope, generally swimming close to the sea floor at depths of 90–430 m (300–1,410 ft). Young sharks may venture into water as shallow as 25 m (82 ft). Night-time captures of this species from close to the surface suggest it may perform a diel vertical migration, moving from deep water upwards or toward the coast at night. In the northwestern Atlantic, the bignose shark conducts a poorly documented seasonal migration, spending summer off the US East Coast and winter in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Individual sharks have been recorded traveling distances between 1,600 and 3,200 km (1,000 and 2,000 mi).