Lamnidae
Diagnostic Features:
- Head long but shorter than trunk
- Snout long, pointed, conical
- Eyes moderately large
- Large mouth
- Gill openings extending to surface of head
- First dorsal high, large, erect
- Second dorsal and anal fins tiny
- Pectorals large and narrow
- Pelvic fins smaller than dorsal but larger than anal fins
- Caudal lunate with upper lobe longer than second lobe
- Peduncle depressed with strong keels
Habitat and Distribution:
- Tropical to cold-temperate
- Active swimmers
- Continental and insular waters
- Surf line to outer shelves
- Not past 1280 m deep
Reproduction:
- Ovoviviparous
- Non-placental
- Believed to be intrauterine cannibals
- Very little known
- Reproductive cycles from 1 to 3 years
Food:
- Sharks
- Whale carcasses
- Rays
- Marine birds and reptiles
- Teleosts
- Marine Mammals
- Squids
Predators:
- Orcas
- Larger sharks
- Humans
Extinct relatives:
- Carcharodon megalodon
- Late Pliocene
- 13 m long, approx. 50 tons
Genera:
- Carcharodon
- Species: C. carcharias vulnerable
- Unique: Teeth serrated, uppers flat with triangular cusps
- Human interest: big game fish, taken in as bycatch, meat eaten fresh, salted, and smoked, oil for vitamins, skin for leather, fin for shark-fin soup, jaws for ornament
- Isurus
- Species:
- I. oxyrinchus low risk/near threatened shortfin mako
- I. paucus vulnerable longfin mako
- Unique: No cusplets on teeth, first dorsal behind pectorals, second dorsal in front of anal fin origin
- Human interest: prize game fish due sport and high quality meat, numerous fisheries, oil used for vitamins, fins for shark-fin soup, skin for leather, jaws for ornaments, meat eaten fresh, frozen, salted, smoked, and dried
- Lamna
- Species:
- L. ditropis data deficientsalmon
- L. nasus vulnerable porbeagle
- Unique: Lateral cusplets on teeth, first dorsal over pectorals, second dorsal over anal fin origin, secondary keel on caudal
- Human interest: fished in North Pacific, skin used for leather, oil from liver, fins for shark-fin soup, meat eaten in Japan, Alaska and California
Articles:
-Cassoff, RM, Campana, SE, and Myklevoll, S. (2007). Changes in baseline growth and maturation parameters of Northwest Atlantic porbeagle, Lamna nasus, following heavy exploitation. Canadian J of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences64 (1): 19-29.
-Donley, JA, Shadwick, RE, Sepulveda, CA, Konstantinidis, P, and Gemballa, S. (2005). Patterns of red muscle strain/activation and body kinematics during steady swimming in a lamnid shark, the shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus). J of Exp Bio 208 (12): 2377-2387.
-Saidi, B, Bradai, MN, Bouain, A, Guelorget, O, and Capape, C. (2005). Capture of a pregnant female white shark, Carcharodon carcharias (Lamnidae) in the Gulf of Gabes (southern Tunisia, Central Mediterranean) with comments on oophagy in sharks. Cybium29 (3): 303-307.
-Weng, KC, Boustany, AM, Pyle, P, Anderson, SD, Brown, A, and Block, BA. (2007). Migration and habitat of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Marine Biology152 (4): 877-894.
-Wilga, CD. (2005). Morphology and evolution of the jaw suspension in lamniform sharks. J of Morphology265 (1): 102-119.