📸 PhotoPhoto: Mark Conlin, SWFSC Large Pelagics Program · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Shortfin mako
Isurus oxyrinchus (Shortfin mako · アオザメ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum body length of 4.45 m is nearly the same as the length of a passenger car (about 4.5 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 When a shortfin mako appeared off Goseong, Gangwon Province, in April 2022, domestic shark research was lacking, prompting the National Institute of Fisheries Science to release a taxonomic guide to sharks of Korean waters in 2023.
- 💡 The NIFS guide advises that if you encounter a shark in the sea, you should not scream or splash, but stay still close to rocks or the bottom.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
It is a large shark swimming in the open waters of warm seas worldwide. On the IUCN Red List, it was assessed as Endangered (EN, 2019).
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
A large shark recorded up to 4.45 m and 505.8 kg, it is noted by FishBase as probably the fastest of all sharks. When hooked on a fishing line, it can leap out of the water.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Adults feed on bony fishes, other sharks, and squids, while large individuals also prey on sailfishes and small cetaceans. It is ovoviviparous: embryos first consume their yolk sac and then feed on unfertilized eggs produced by the mother (oophagy), with 4 to 25 pups born after 15 to 18 months.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
Korea's National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) stated that when a shortfin mako appeared off Goseong, Gangwon Province, in April 2022, domestic research was so limited that even basic ecological information could not be provided. In March 2023 it published the “Taxonomic Guide to Sharks of Korean Coastal and Offshore Waters,” which includes the shortfin mako among 13 shark species highly aggressive toward humans.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List EN (2019) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/39341/2903170
- • IUCN Red List category EN — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 3QDF9
- • iucnredlist.org — 2903170
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000057272 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000057272
- • wikidata.org — Q192158
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Isurus oxyrinchus by mark conlin2.JPG
- • fishbase.se — Isurus-oxyrinchus.html
- • nifs.go.kr — actionNewsView.do
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Fidji Berio · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.