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NRLD - 329865 | Carcharhinus leucas

Assessment ID
329865
Taxon name
Carcharhinus leucas
(Müller & Henle, 1839)
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Carcharhinus leucas
(Müller & Henle, 1839)
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Vertebrates
Fishes
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
chordata
Class
chondrichthyes
Order
carcharhiniformes
Family
carcharhinidae
Genus
Carcharhinus
Species
leucas
Species authority
(Müller & Henle, 1839)
Location and scope
Specific locality or subnational name or regional name
United Arab Emirates (the)
Scope (of the Assessment)
National
Countries included within the scope of the assessment
United Arab Emirates (the)
Country ISO code(s)
ARE
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Not_assigned
Conservation Status
Assessed as
Endangered
Abbreviated status
EN
Qualifying criteria (if given)
A2cd
Criteria system used
IUCN

(see Assessment details)

Assessment rationale/justification
The Bull Shark occurs throughout UAE inshore and offshore waters. Little specific data are available for this species in the UAE. Although there are limited data on its status, other Carcharhinus species in the Arabian Gulf have undergone significant declines due to exploitation. It has a relatively low reproductive capacity, which causes it to be susceptible to over-exploitation. It is apparently highly migratory, and has slow life history characteristics including low fecundity and a low annual rate of population increase. Considering this, the species has a low capacity to recover from even moderate levels of exploitation. It is especially susceptible to exploitation (target and bycatch) in many largely unregulated gill net, longline and trawl fisheries that operate within its range outside and surrounding UAE waters. Some management measures are now in place in the Arabian Sea region, although domestic fisheries are likely to continue. In addition, degradation of estuarine habitat is pervasive in the Arabian Gulf region. Though data specifically from the UAE are not available, individuals in the UAE are a component of a larger, interconnected and migratory population that occurs broadly in the north-western Indian Ocean. It is inferred that declines reported in the Arabian Sea region are representative of its status in the UAE. Based on recorded levels of exploitation and decline in habitat quality, it is suspected to have declined by 50-80% over the past three generation lengths, or about 55 years. It is listed as Endangered A2cd.
Assessment details
Year assessed
2019
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Criteria system used
IUCN
Reference for methods given
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Further information
Endemism (according to assessment)
Endemic to region
Not assigned
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
The Bull Shark occurs throughout UAE waters. Elsewhere, it is circumglobal in tropical waters (Last and Stevens 2009). It is likely to have been widely misidentified as the Pigeye Shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis) where their distributions overlap (i.e. Gulf of Aden and eastwards).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Terrestrial
Not_assigned
Freshwater
Not_assigned
Marine
Yes
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
The Bull Shark occurs in inshore and offshore waters, usually near the bottom, from the surfline to a depth of at least 152 m (Ebert et al. 2013). This species is euryhaline, with nursery areas in rivers, although within the Arabian Seas region, neonates have been recorded in areas without rivers and estuaries (Jabado et al. 2016). It attains a maximum size of about 340 cm total length (TL) with males mature at around 157-226 cm TL and females mature around 180-230 cm TL (Ebert et al. 2013, Jabado et al. 2016, Moore et al. 2012). Females produce litters of 1-13 every second year (Smith 1997) and size at birth is about 55-81 cm TL (Ebert et al. 2013). Ageing data from northern Australia indicate that females mature around 10 years and reach a maximum of at least 27 years (Tillett et al. 2011). Based on these data, generation length is estimated at 18.25 years.
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
Information pertaining to threats specific to the UAE are unavailable. This species is impacted by target (for fins and their valuable meat) and bycatch fisheries that are active elsewhere in its range. Marine habitats in the Gulf are experiencing high levels of disturbance and quickly deteriorating due to major impacts from development activities (including dredging and reclamation), desalination plants, industrial activities, habitat destruction through the removal of shallow productive areas and major shipping lanes (Sheppard et al. 2010). The reliance on rivers and estuaries by juveniles means that this species faces significant threats from habitat degradation due to damming, agriculture and coastal development (Moore 2018), which is pervasive in the Arabian Gulf region.
Publication
Ralph, G.M., Stump, E., Linardich, C., Bullock, R.W., Carpenter, K.E., Allen D.J., Hilton-Taylor, C., Al Mheiri, R., and Alshamsi, O. 2021. UAE National Red List of Marine Species: Reef-building corals, cartilaginous fishes and select bony fishes. 2021. Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.