pigeye shark
Java shark
carcharhinus amboinensis latin

The pigeye shark is a largely solitary animal, though occasionally several individuals may be found at the same location.

Though the pigeye shark will take prey from anywhere in the water column, it tends to hunt close to the sea floor.

The pigeye shark is an apex predator that mostly hunts low in the water column.

The pigeye shark is a very robust-bodied species with a short, broad, and rounded snout.

Young pigeye sharks are potentially vulnerable to predation by larger sharks.

The pigeye shark's size and dentition make it potentially dangerous, though it has not been known to attack humans.

Tagging and genetic data indicate that pigeye sharks, particularly juveniles, are not strongly migratory and tend to remain in a local area.

Large and formidably toothed, the pigeye shark is regarded as potentially dangerous to humans, though it has not been implicated in any attacks.

Several junior synonyms are known for this species, among them Triaenodon obtusus, which was based on a near-birth pigeye shark foetus.

Since the pigeye shark so strongly resembles the bull shark, morphology-based phylogenetic studies have considered the two species to be closely related.

Carcharhinus amboinensis (Pigeye shark)

The movements and habitat usage of juvenile pigeye sharks have been extensively studied in Cleveland Bay in northeastern Queensland.

In KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, small numbers of pigeye sharks are caught in shark nets set up to protect beaches.

Though widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical marine waters of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania, the pigeye shark does not appear to be common anywhere.

With its bulky grey body, small eyes, and short, blunt snout, the pigeye shark looks almost identical to (and is often confused with) the better-known bull shark (C. leucas).

Genetic analysis of pigeye sharks across northern Australia suggest that the evolutionary history of this species was affected by coastline changes during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 12,000 years ago).

German biologists Johannes Müller and Jakob Henle described the pigeye shark as Carcharias (Prionodon) amboinensis in their 1839 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the pigeye shark overall as Data Deficient, while noting that its rarity may render it susceptible to overfishing.

The pigeye shark or Java shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis) is an uncommon species of requiem shark, family Carcharhinidae, found in the warm coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic and western Indo-Pacific.

Other sharks and rays figure much more prominently in the diets of South African pigeye sharks than those from other regions; the types consumed include requiem sharks, catsharks, angel sharks, guitarfishes, stingrays, and eagle rays.

The pigeye shark is viviparous; like in other requiem sharks, after the developing embryo depletes its supply of yolk, it is sustained to term by its mother through a placental connection formed from the empty yolk sac.

Parasites documented from the pigeye shark include the myxosporean Kudoa carcharhini, the copepods Pandarus smithii and P. cranchii, and the tapeworms Callitetrarhynchus gracilis, Cathetocephalus sp., Floriceps minacanthus, Heteronybelinia australis, Otobothrium australe, O. crenacolle, and Protogrillotia sp.

The pigeye shark or Java shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis) is an uncommon species of requiem shark, family Carcharhinidae, found in the warm coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic and western Indo-Pacific.

Carcharhinus amboinensis (Pigeye shark)

The pigeye shark or Java shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis) is an uncommon species of requiem shark, family Carcharhinidae, found in the warm coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic and western Indo-Pacific.