Distribution and Habitat
Widely scattered records suggest that the longfin mako shark has a worldwide distribution in tropical and warm-temperate oceans; the extent of its range is difficult to determine due to confusion with the shortfin mako. In the Atlantic Ocean, it is known from the Gulf Stream off the east coast of the United States, Cuba, and southern Brazil in the west, and from the Iberian Peninsula to Ghana in the east, possibly including the Mediterranean Sea and Cape Verde. In the Indian Ocean, it has been reported from the Mozambique Channel. In the Pacific Ocean, it occurs off Japan and Taiwan, northeastern Australia, a number of islands in the Central Pacific northeast of Micronesia, and southern California.
An inhabitant of the open ocean, the longfin mako generally remains in the upper mesopelagic zone during the day and ascends into the epipelagic zone at night. Off Cuba, it is most frequently caught at a depth of 110–220 m (360–720 ft) and is rare at depths above 90 m (300 ft). Off New South Wales, Australia, most catches occur at a depth of 50–190 m (160–620 ft), in areas with a surface temperature around 20–24 °C (68–75 °F).
Read more about this topic: Longfin Mako Shark
Famous quotes containing the words distribution and/or habitat:
“The question for the country now is how to secure a more equal distribution of property among the people. There can be no republican institutions with vast masses of property permanently in a few hands, and large masses of voters without property.... Let no man get by inheritance, or by will, more than will produce at four per cent interest an income ... of fifteen thousand dollars] per year, or an estate of five hundred thousand dollars.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Nature is the mother and the habitat of man, even if sometimes a stepmother and an unfriendly home.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)