Whale Sharks are found in both coastal and oceanic habitats (Rowat and Brooks 2012). This species is highly mobile, with mean daily movement rates of 24-“28 km based on tethered geopositioning tags (Hueter et al. 2013). Whale Sharks spend the majority of time in the epipelagic zone, but dive to at least 1,928 m in depth (Tyminsky et al. 2015). Most sightings occur at a small number of known coastal feeding areas for the species, where the sharks aggregate on the surface to exploit seasonal productivity such as fish spawning events or zooplankton blooms (Rowat and Brooks 2012, Robinson et al. 2013). A degree of inter-annual site fidelity has been documented in many locations (Cagua et al. 2015, Norman et al. in press). Sexual- and size-based segregation is typical in these locations, with a bias towards juvenile males from 4-“8 m total length (TL) (Rohner et al. 2015, Norman et al. 2017, Robinson et al. 2016). The largest recorded Whale Sharks are approximately 20 m TL (Chen et al. 1997) and 42 t in mass (Hsu et al. 2014) as reported from Taiwan. An individual extrapolated to be 18.8 m TL was caught in India (Borrell et al. 2011). Estimates of TL at maturity for males vary between 7-9.2 m TL (Norman and Stevens 2007, Ramírez-Macías et al. 2012, Rohner et al. 2015). Size at maturity in females is approximately 9 m TL, based on visual and laser photogrammetric estimates (Acuña-Marrero et al. 2014, Ramírez-Macías et al. 2012). Whale Shark reproductive ecology is poorly known. Pregnant female sharks are seasonally found in the Eastern Pacific, particularly off Darwin Island in the Galapagos Archipelago (Acuña-Marrero et al. 2014) and the Gulf of California (Eckert and Stewart 2001, Ramírez-Macías et al. 2012), but rarely sighted outside this region. The single pregnant female that has been physically examined, from Taiwan, had 304 pups in various stages of development, establishing that this species is lecithotrophic viviparous (Joung et al. 1996, Schmidt et al. 2010). The largest size class of embryos, 58-“64 cm TL, appeared close to fully developed (Joung et al. 1996). Size at birth is presumed to be around that size although a 46 cm TL specimen was the smallest free-swimming neonate found in the Philippines (Aca and Schmidt 2011). Age and growth data on Whale Sharks are sparse. Based on biannual band-pairs, it is estimated that that male sharks begin maturing at ~17 years and females at 19-“22 years in the Indo-Pacific with generation length estimated at 25 years (Hsu et al. 2014).

Sand Tiger Sharks are generally coastal, usually found from the surf zone down to depths of around 25 m. It may also occasionally be found in shallow bays, around coral reefs and, very rarely, to depths of around 200 m on the continental shelf. They usually live near the bottom, but may also move throughout the water column (Compagno 1984). This species occurs either alone or in small to medium-sized aggregations of 20-80 individuals (Silvester 1977, Aitken 1991). Populations of this species (off South Africa and the east coast of the USA) are known to be philopatric undertaking complex size and sex segregated migrations habitually returning to their breeding area (Bass et al. 1975, Gilmore 1993, Musick et al. 1993). This species reaches a maximum size of approximately 325 cm total length (TL), with females maturing at approximately 220 cm TL. The maximum age is 17 years with females maturing at 9.5 years with a generation span of approximately 13.25 years based on Atlantic studies (Goldman 2002). They are ovoviviparous and usually only two pups are born per litter once every two years. This is because the remaining eggs and developing embryos are eaten by the largest and/or most advanced embryo in each horn of the uterus (a phenomenon known as adelphophagy or uterine cannibalism). The gestation period may last from 9-12 months and size at birth is relatively large, at about 1 m (Gilmore et al. 1983, Gilmore 1993).

The Sandbar Shark occurs in coastal, often shallow waters and is associated with sandy or muddy flats, bays, estuaries and harbours (Grubbs et al. 2007). The species also occurs further offshore, particularly on banks, near islands, flat reefs and other topographic features in open waters from the surface to 280 m depth, but is typically found in waters less than 100 m depth (Compagno et al. 2005). It attains a maximum size of at least 240 cm total length (TL) (Ebert et al. 2013). Size at maturity in females ranges from 129-158 cm TL and from 123-156 cm TL in males. This species is viviparous with a yolk sac placenta with a gestation period estimated at 9-12 months (McAuley et al. 2007). Females apparently have young only every two or three years. Litter size is variable and depends in part on the size of the mother, and ranges from 1-10 (Tester 1969, McAuley et al. 2007). Size at birth varies slightly by region but does not follow the same geographic pattern. New born pups range from 40-65 cm TL (Capapé 1984, McAuley et al. 2007).Sandbar Sharks are slow-growing K-selected species (Hoff and Musick 1987, Sminkey and Musick 1995). Wild populations grow very slowly and mature at a relatively late age (Lawler 1976, Casey et al. 1985, Sminkey and Musick 1995). Maturity in these studies was estimated at 13-16 years. The ages at which 50% of female and male sharks were mature was estimated to be 16.2 and 13.8 years, respectively (McAuley et al. 2006) and longevity is 35-41 years (McAuley et al. 2006). In the Tasman Sea, age at maturity for females and males was 9.5 and 7 years, respectively (Geraghty et al. 2015). Generation length is therefore estimated as 28.5 years.

The Blacktip Shark occurs in coastal waters on continental and insular shelves and occasionally offshore to depths of at least 100 m. Size at birth is 38-72 cm total length (TL) (Ebert et al. 2013). Maximum length is 287 cm TL. Females mature about 155-164 cm TL and males from about 143 cm TL (Sudan) to 184 cm TL (UAE) (Jabado et al. 2015; I. Elhassan unpubl. data). Size at birth is 38-72 cm TL (Ebert et al. 2013) with litter sizes from 4-11, with most about 8 (I. Elhassan unpubl. data). There is no ageing data from the region, but information from Indonesia, where maximum size is similar to that recorded from the Arabian Seas region, suggests that maturity occurs at about 8 years and maximum age is about 17 years with a generation length estimated at 13 years (Smart et al. 2015).