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(Top) Blue shark off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Video stills by Chris Harvey-Clark / GEERG. (Below) Blue shark swims by cage off Nova Scotia. Photo © Jeffrey Gallant / GEERG
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Prionace glauca
(Linnaeus, 1758)
The Blue shark is an elongated and hydrodynamic member of the Carcharhinidae family. This is the shark family most easily recognised and unjustly villified by Hollywood. The Blue shark is found offshore in northern and temperate waters. In Eastern Canada, it ventures from Newfoundland in the north, to the St. Lawrence Estuary in the west. It swims continuously over long distances around the Atlantic. A specimen tagged off New York was recaptured near Gibraltar one year later.
The Blue shark mainly feeds on fish but it has occasionally attacked people in the presence of blood and fish entrails. Reproduction takes places in the spring and summer. Gestation lasts one year and produces a litter of up to 135 pups measuring approximately 40cm. The Blue shark makes its appearance in the Maritimes and Gulf of St. Lawrence in mid-summer. Many are senselessly killed for sport during shark derbies along the coast of Nova Scotia.
The Aqualog Society and founding members of GEERG conducted Canada's first successful cage dives with pelagic sharks off Halifax in 2000. |
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Scientific Name:
Prionace glauca*
(Linnaeus, 1758)
*blue-gray pointed saw
Common Names:
Blue shark
Blue dog
Blue whaler |
Requin bleu (Fr.)
Requin peau bleue (Fr.)
Prionace comes from the Greek words "prion," meaning "saw", and "akis," meaning "pointed". Glauca comes from the latin word "glaucas," meaning blue-gray or green. |
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The Atlantic population of the Blue shark is considered of special concern by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada).
Blue shark - Prionace glauca
Atlantic population
Status: Special Concern (2006)
Canadian Occurrence: Atlantic Ocean
Status Criteria: Not applicable
Click HERE to go to COSEWIC's web page on the Blue shark (Atlantic).
Blue shark - Prionace glauca
Pacific population
Status: Data Deficient (2006)
Canadian Occurrence: Pacific Ocean
Status Criteria: Not applicable
Click HERE to go to COSEWIC's web page on the Blue shark (Pacific). |
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Les nouvelles du large, (Bulletin no. 8) - GREMM, 24.06.1999
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