Ecology Summary - Sphyrna lewini

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Main Ref.	Wetherbee, B.M., S.H. Gruber and E. Cortes, 1990
Remarks	It occurs in all tropical and warm-temperate seas. They sometimes congregate over sea mounts or around offshore islands (Ref. 54301). A coastal-pelagic, semi-oceanic shark occurring over continental and insular shelves and adjacent deep water, often approaching close inshore and entering enclosed bays and estuaries (Ref. 244, 11230, 58302). Found in inshore and offshore waters to about 275 m depth (Ref. 26938, 11230, 58302); has been filmed at a baited camera in 512 m depth (Lis Maclaren, pers. Comm. 2005). Huge schools of small migrating individuals move pole ward in the summer in certain areas (Ref. 244). Permanent resident populations also exist (Ref. 244). Feeds mainly on teleost fishes, cephalopods and zooplankton (Ref. 568, 6871); also lobsters, shrimps, crabs (Ref. 30573), including other sharks and rays (Ref. 37816). Pelagic. Feeds on surface-dwelling fishes. Juveniles tend to form schools and forage near the bottom. Inhabits inshore waters then migrates to deeper waters with age (Ref. 9773).

Main Ref.

Wetherbee, B.M., S.H. Gruber and E. Cortes, 1990

Remarks

It occurs in all tropical and warm-temperate seas. They sometimes congregate over sea mounts or around offshore islands (Ref. 54301). A coastal-pelagic, semi-oceanic shark occurring over continental and insular shelves and adjacent deep water, often approaching close inshore and entering enclosed bays and estuaries (Ref. 244, 11230, 58302). Found in inshore and offshore waters to about 275 m depth (Ref. 26938, 11230, 58302); has been filmed at a baited camera in 512 m depth (Lis Maclaren, pers. Comm. 2005). Huge schools of small migrating individuals move pole ward in the summer in certain areas (Ref. 244). Permanent resident populations also exist (Ref. 244). Feeds mainly on teleost fishes, cephalopods and zooplankton (Ref. 568, 6871); also lobsters, shrimps, crabs (Ref. 30573), including other sharks and rays (Ref. 37816). Pelagic. Feeds on surface-dwelling fishes. Juveniles tend to form schools and forage near the bottom. Inhabits inshore waters then migrates to deeper waters with age (Ref. 9773).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Sphyrna lewini may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Pelagic;
Substrate Ref.	Al-Abdessalaam, T.Z.S., 1995
Special habitats	Coral Reefs;
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Compagno, L.J.V., 1998
Associations	solitary; schooling;
Associated with
Association remarks	Adults solitary, in pairs, or schools; young in large schools (Refs. 13562, 9773).
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Cortés, E., 1999
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Wetherbee, B.M., S.H. Gruber and E. Cortes, 1990

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	4.08	0.45	4.00	0.57	Troph of juv./adults from 1 study.
From individual food items	4.50	0.88			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Cortés, E., 1999

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