Common Thresher Shark

Fishing limits

Common Thresher Sharks do not have size, bag or boat limit restrictions.

Take only what you need for personal use.

Identifying a Common Thresher Shark

Description

Common Thresher Sharks have:

• grey to silver/purple on dorsal side
• a white underside
• very large eyes
• a small mouth with small sharp cutting teeth
• a distinctly long upper tail lobe:
  - approximately the same length as the body from the snout to the origin of the tail
  - with small curved cusp near the tip.

Some Common Threshers have a distinctive blotchy ‘cow hide’ pattern from dark to down flanks near the anal fin and tail.

Common Threshers are warm blooded and grow up to 5.5 m in length.

They can swim at very high speeds and can jump out of the water when hooked or whilst feeding.

Common Threshers mostly prey on small pelagic fishes and squids. They often whip and stun their prey with their tail before eating it.

Habitat

Common Threshers live in both gulfs, in shelf waters and along the continental shelf slope. They regularly swim near river mouths, reef slopes and banks where small pelagic fishes aggregate.

On a daily basis they move:

• between inshore and outer shelf waters
• rapidly throughout the water column.

Common Threshers are commonly caught in spring and autumn.