FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes Western

1262 Sharks
A single species in this family.
Stegostoma fasciatum (Hermann, 1783)
STEGOSTOMATIDAE
Zebra sharks
by L.J.V. Compagno
Frequent synonyms / misidentifications: Stegostoma varium (Seba, 1758);S. tygrinus (Bonnaterre, 1788) / None.
FAO names: En - Zebra shark; Fr - Requin zèbre; Sp - Tiburón acebrado.
adult
juvenile
ventral view
of head
lower
tooth
Diagnostic characters: A large, moderately stout-bodied shark with prominent ridges on side. Head with 5 small
gill slits, the last 3 behind pectoral-fin origin and the last 2 very close to each other; no gill rakers; spiracles
subequal in size to eyes; nostrils close to front of snout, with short barbels and nasoral grooves
connecting them with the mouth but without circumnarial grooves and folds; no nictitating lower eyelids;
snout very short, broad and bluntly rounded; mouth short, nearly transverse, and far forward on head, well in
front of eyes; teeth small, poorly differentiated in different regions of the mouth, with moderately long medial
cusps and short cusplets on sides; tooth rows 28 to 33/22 to 32. Two dorsal fins, the base of the first
extending forward of pelvic-fin origins as a low keel that reaches level of pectoral-fin bases but with
insertion posterior to pelvic-fin origins; second dorsal fin 1/2 the size of first or less; anal fin present, rounded
but not keel-shaped with its origin under rear 1/3 of second dorsal-fin base; caudal fin nearly or quite 1/2 of
total length, strongly asymmetrical, with a deep subterminal notch but with the lower lobe hardly developed.
Caudal peduncle not strongly depressed, without lateral keels or precaudal pits, but with dermal ridges
extending forward onto sides. Supraorbital crests present on cranium, these laterally expanded.Intestinal valve
of ring type. Colour: young below 60 cm with the back dark brown or blackish, with vertical yellow bars,
spots and reticulations, and the underside of the head, abdomen and tail whitish; in subadults and adults the
dark areas break up into scattered dark spots on a yellowish background, shading into the whitish ventral surface.
Similar families occurring in the area
None. The barbels, nasoral grooves, anterior mouth, teeth, anteriorly elongated dorsal fin, lateral ridges
on the sides, greatly elongated caudal fin about 1/2 the total length, and distinctive colour patterns of young
and adults separate this shark from all others in the area.
Size: Maximum total length at least 2.35 m; possibly to 3.54 m.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries: Common in inshore waters of the continental and insular shelves, often
found on coral reefs, on or near the bottom. Oviparous, depositing eggs in rounded oblong egg cases 10
to 17 cm long; size at birth between 20 and 36 cm. Probably nocturnal, feeds primarily on molluscs but
also takes small fishes. Caught in bottom trawls, in floating
and fixed bottom gill nets, and with longlines; utilized
fresh and dried-salted for human consumption; livers are
?
processed for vitamins; fins dried for the oriental sharkfin
?
trade; also processed for fishmeal.
Distribution: In the Indian Ocean and western Pacific from
South Africa and the Red Sea eastward to Japan, Palau,
western and northern Australia, and New Caledonia.
References
Compagno, L.J.V. 1984. FAO species catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of
shark species known to date. Part 1. Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes. FAO Fish. Synop., (125)Vol.4.Pt.1:249 p.
Dingerkus, G. 1986. Interrelationships of orectolobiform sharks (Chondrichthyes: Selachii). Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. Indo-
Pacific Fish., 1986:227-245.
Regan, C.T. 1908. A revision of the sharks of the family Orectolobidae. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., (1908):347-364.