Imagine seeing a shark with a long thresher-like tail with a can be as long as the total body length, up close. Introducing Thresher Sharks!
Thresher Sharks can only be consistently spotted in a few places around the world, and one of them is off the coast of the island of Malapascua in the Philippines at sunken island of Monad Shoal.
They’re mostly known for the size of their tail (“upper caudal fin lobe”), which is typically equal to the length of the rest of their body! Check out this below photo:
Thresher Sharks have tails equal to the rest of the size of their body!
Why do Thresher Sharks have large tails? Thresher sharks are active predators – they use their huge tails not only to swim, but also to swat and stun much smaller prey fish. Whack! When hunting schooling fish, thresher sharks are known to “slap” the water, herding and stunning prey.
What do Thresher Sharks eat? Thresher sharks eat squid, octopuses, crustaceans and small schooling fish such as bluefish, mackerel, needlefish, lancetfish, lanternfish, and more.
How big are Thresher sharks? Threshers range from 8 feet long on the small end, to as big as 20-25 feet long! That’s 2.5 meters to 7.5 meters. 1,100 lbs!
