Taxon name
Triaenodon obesus
(Rüppell, 1837)
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Triaenodon obesus
(Rüppell, 1837)
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Vertebrates
Fishes
Species authority
(Rüppell, 1837)
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)
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Not_assigned
Conservation Status
Assessed as
Data Deficient
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
Assessment rationale/justification
In the UAE, the Whitetip Reef Shark possibly occurs only in coastal waters of the Sea of Oman, but this is not yet confirmed. The species exhibits moderately slow life history characteristics, and is impacted by extensive fishing pressure and habitat loss and degradation throughout the Arabian Sea region. Little is known on the population of this species in UAE waters and given its distribution there remains uncertain, it is listed as Data Deficient.
Assessment details
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 Whitetip Reef Shark may occur in UAE waters on the Sea of Oman coast, but this is not yet confirmed. It is excluded from the Arabian Gulf (Al Jufaili et al. 2010). Globally, it is widespread in the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Last and Stevens 2009).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
Whitetip Reef Sharks are closely associated with coral reefs in clear, tropical waters. This species is primarily nocturnal, sheltering in caves by day, often communally. Maximum size is around 200 cm total length (TL), but adults are very rare over 160 cm. Maturity is attained at about 105 cm TL, although a mature male of 95 cm TL and a pregnant female of 102 cm TL have been recorded in the Maldives (Anderson and Ahmed 1993). Mating has been recorded in the wild by Tricas and Le Feuvre (1985) and pups are born at 52-60 cm TL after a gestation period of at least five months. Litter size has been recorded as 2-3 in Madagascar (Fourmanoir 1961, Last and Stevens 1994) and 1-5 elsewhere (Randall 1977, Last and Stevens 1994). Growth is slow in the wild, estimated at 2.1-4.2 cm year<sup>-1</sup> (Randall 1977), and it may attain sexual maturity at eight to nine years and live to about 16 years (Randall 1977, Smith et al. 1998). Generation length is estimated to be 12.25 years (Randall 1977).
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). Corals in the UAE and Arabian Gulf have severely declined due to the increasing frequency of mass bleaching events caused by rising water temperatures, which is a consequence of climate change, as well as pervasive coastal development (Riegl et al. 2018, Burt et al. 2019).
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.
