Taxon name
Loxodon macrorhinus
Müller & Henle, 1839
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Loxodon macrorhinus
Müller & Henle, 1839
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Vertebrates
Fishes
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)
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Not_assigned
Conservation Status
Assessed as
Near Threatened
Qualifying criteria (if given)
A2cd
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
Assessment rationale/justification
The Sliteye Shark occurs throughout UAE inshore waters. It is caught in inshore gill net, trawl and line fisheries throughout the Arabian Sea region. Inshore fishing pressure is intense and intensifying, and declines are known in some areas. 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. Given the intense fishing pressures faced by this species throughout the Arabian Seas, ongoing threats from bycatch and habitat loss, it is inferred that declines reported in the Arabian Seas are representative of the status in the UAE. Based on recorded levels of exploitation and decline in habitat quality, it is suspected to have declined by 20-30% over the past three generation lengths, or about 15 years. It is listed as Near Threatened, nearly meeting the thresholds for Vulnerable A2cd.
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 Sliteye Shark occurs throughout UAE waters. Globally, it is widespread in the 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
The Sliteye Shark is a small species that occurs near the bottom on continental and insular shelves to depths of 100 m (Jabado and Ebert 2015). The young are born at 40 to 45 cm, and males mature around 67 cm TL (Jabado et al. 2016), and grow to a maximum of 95 cm (Anderson and Ahmed 1993). It reproduces annually usually with a litter size of 2-4. Ageing work in Australia has demonstrated that it grows quickly, reaching maturity at 1.5 to 2 years of age, with a female maximum age of ~9 years (Gutteridge et al. 2013). Its generation length is estimated to be 5.15 years.
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
In the UAE, sharks have been impacted by targeted commercial fisheries until 2014 when a ban on export of sharks was imposed (Ministry of Climate Change and Environment). Sharks continue to be impacted by artisanal and bycatch fisheries (Annual Fisheries Statistical Report for Abu Dhabi Emirate 2001-2018), though catch data are not species-specific. Marine habitats in the region have experienced high levels of disturbance and are quickly deteriorating due to major impacts from development activities (Sheppard <em style=""font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2; text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px"">et al. 2010).
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.
