Bull shark

Fish · Last reviewed 2026-08-16

A heavy, blunt-nosed, genuinely dangerous requiem shark that swims hundreds of miles up rivers into fresh water — the only large shark a freshwater angler can realistically meet, and the one that most deserves to be taken seriously.

Safety

Encounters with marine life — Can cause serious injury or death

One of a small number of shark species consistently implicated in serious and fatal attacks on people. It is large and powerful, hunts in turbid shallow water where neither party can see the other, investigates unfamiliar objects by contact because vision cannot resolve them, and occupies exactly the estuaries, river mouths, harbours and surf zones people wade, swim and fish in — including fresh water, where no other large shark is expected.

What reduces it: Avoid turbid water at dawn and dusk, and river mouths after heavy rain. Do not swim near anglers, fish-cleaning stations or boats discarding scraps. When spearfishing, keep the catch on a float line well away from your body and get speared fish out of the water promptly. Do not swim alone or at night in bull shark country, and treat local warnings about specific river mouths and beaches as informed rather than excessive.

Worse when:

Turbid water and low light together, which is the classic combination.
After heavy rain at a river mouth, when runoff concentrates prey and carrion.
Any activity putting blood, bait or struggling fish in the water — angling, fish cleaning, spearfishing.
Fresh and brackish water, where people do not expect a shark at all and therefore take no precautions.

Injury while handling fish — Can cause serious injury or death

A hooked bull shark of two metres or more is an extremely powerful animal with large cutting teeth. Attempting to bring one into a small boat or drag one onto a bank to unhook it risks severe bite injuries, crush injuries from the animal's weight and thrashing, and injuries from line under tension.

What reduces it: Do not bring a large bull shark aboard a small boat or land one on a bank. Cut the trace as close as can be safely reached and release the animal. Where a fish is handled at all, work alongside and in the water with a T-bar or long-handled pliers, and keep hands well clear of the mouth and gill slits.

Worse when:

Small boats, where there is nowhere for people or the animal to go.
Shore fishing, where the instinct is to drag the fish clear of the water.
Working alone or in the dark.

Fish welfare — Can cause injury needing treatment

A Vulnerable species that matures late — commonly well into the second decade for females — and whose juveniles depend for years on estuarine and riverine nursery habitat that is already heavily degraded. Long fights in warm, low-oxygen water leave released animals exhausted and frequently kill them after release.

What reduces it: Use tackle capable of ending the fight quickly. Release in the water, cut the trace rather than excavating a hook, and never lift a large shark by the tail or allow it to hang unsupported.

Worse when:

Warm, low-oxygen estuary and river water, where recovery from exhaustion is slow.
Light tackle, which lengthens the fight.

Precautions that always apply here

If a hook goes past the barb into a person, cut the line, leave the hook where it is, and get medical help. Pulling it back out does far more damage than pushing it through under proper care.
Keep fingers out of the gills and clear of the teeth. Gill damage is usually fatal to the fish, and several species will remove skin from a finger.
Support the fish's weight along its body, keep it out of the water for as short a time as possible, and hold it over something soft.
Tell somebody where you are going and when you expect to be back.
Never spearfish or freedive alone.

The bull shark is the exception to almost everything people assume about sharks, and the exception matters.

IT GOES INTO FRESH WATER. Not just estuaries — bull sharks have been recorded many hundreds of kilometres up major rivers, in the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Zambezi, the Ganges and elsewhere, and they occur in some lakes connected to the sea. They achieve it through unusually flexible osmoregulation, adjusting salt and urea retention as salinity changes. No other large shark does this to anything like the same degree.

WHICH MEANS IT TURNS UP WHERE NOBODY EXPECTS A SHARK. Muddy tropical rivers, harbours, estuaries, canals and lagoons — the exact water where visibility is poor and where people fish from banks, wade and swim.

IT IS ALSO GENUINELY DANGEROUS, AND FISHINGHQ IS NOT GOING TO BE COY ABOUT IT. Bull sharks are consistently ranked among the small number of shark species responsible for serious attacks on humans. The reasons are structural rather than malicious: they are large and powerfully built, they hunt in shallow turbid water where identification is difficult for both parties, they are aggressive towards competitors, and they occupy exactly the water people use.

IT IS HEAVILY BUILT AND SHORT-SNOUTED — a thick, stocky shark with a broad blunt head, quite unlike the streamlined oceanic requiem sharks, and the build is where the name comes from.

Identification

FishingHQ holds no photograph of this species whose identity and licensing it can vouch for, so it is not showing one. Misidentified fish photographs teach identification wrongly, and a picture with an unchecked caption would be worse than none. The identification points below are what to look at instead.

Scientific name: Carcharhinus leucas
Family: Carcharhinidae
Water: Saltwater, Brackish, Freshwater
Conservation status: Vulnerable
Regions: Caribbean, Central & South America, West Africa, East & Southern Africa, Indo-Pacific, South-East Asia, Australia, South Asia

A VERY SHORT, BROAD, BLUNTLY ROUNDED SNOUT — shorter than the width of the mouth. This is the fastest character and it is what separates the species from the pointed-snouted oceanic requiem sharks.
Heavily built and thick-bodied, with a large triangular first dorsal fin set well forward.
Plain grey above and pale below, WITHOUT the conspicuous black or white fin markings that identify the reef sharks. Juveniles may show dusky fin tips that fade with age.
Small eyes relative to the head — consistent with an animal hunting in turbid water where vision contributes little.
Large: commonly 2–2.5 m, and heavy for its length.
FOUND IN FRESH OR BRACKISH WATER, a large shark in a river, estuary, harbour or lagoon is very likely to be this species. No other large shark routinely does this.

Size

Typical: 1.8–2.4 m and 90–180 kg.
Large: Over 2.5 m, and females run considerably larger than males.

Exceptional: Around 3.5 m and something over 300 kg is the reported upper end for the species; animals of that size are old females.

Lifecycle and reproduction

Viviparous with a yolk-sac placenta. Litters typically number around five to thirteen pups after a gestation of roughly ten to eleven months, and pups are born at around 60 to 80 cm in low-salinity nursery habitat — estuaries, river mouths and coastal lagoons. Juveniles remain in that brackish and fresh water for several years, where large marine predators cannot follow them, before moving progressively into more saline coastal water as they grow. Maturity is late, commonly well into the second decade for females, and individuals are long-lived.

The dependence on low-salinity nursery habitat is the defining feature of the species' reproduction and the reason its conservation is a coastal and riverine question rather than an offshore one. Pregnant females move into estuaries and river mouths to pup, juveniles then spend years in exactly the water most affected by pollution, dredging, barrages, flow modification and coastal development, and adults mature too late to compensate quickly for losses. A species that appears formidable is, reproductively, as slow and as vulnerable to habitat change as any shark in this catalogue.

Feeding and senses

A broad and genuinely opportunistic predator: bony fish of many kinds, other sharks and rays — including smaller members of its own species — turtles, crustaceans, molluscs, sea birds and carrion. Bull sharks hunt largely in turbid, shallow water and use a bump-and-bite approach in poor visibility, investigating unfamiliar objects physically because sight cannot resolve them. That behaviour, in water where people also are, is the mechanism behind most serious incidents involving the species.

Adapted to turbidity rather than to clear water. Olfaction is acute, the ampullae of Lorenzini detect the electric fields of muscle at close range, and the lateral line reads movement and disturbance; vision is comparatively less important and the eyes are small. The practical implications are twofold: a bull shark locates prey — or investigates a person — in water where nothing can be seen, and it identifies unfamiliar objects by contact rather than by looking at them.

Through the year

Movements are governed by temperature and by salinity rather than by a simple season. Bull sharks move into rivers and estuaries seasonally in many parts of the range, following warmth and prey, and river incursions are frequently associated with warmer months and with high-flow periods that extend brackish conditions upstream. In tropical parts of the range they are present in coastal and riverine water throughout the year.

Distribution

Circumglobal in tropical and warm-temperate coastal waters — the western and eastern Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, west and southern Africa, the Indian Ocean, South-East Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific. Occupies coastal seas, estuaries, lagoons, harbours and rivers, penetrating hundreds of kilometres into fresh water in major river systems and occurring in some connected lakes. Generally shallow, mostly within 30 m. Listed by the IUCN as Vulnerable, reflecting coastal fishing pressure, late maturity, and heavy degradation of the low-salinity nursery habitat juveniles depend on.

This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.

Why anglers care

A significant sport fish in parts of its range — notably in Australia, southern Africa and Central America, where it is fished from boats and from shore in estuaries and rivers — and an important species in artisanal coastal fisheries throughout the tropics. For FishingHQ its significance is as much about safety and expectation as about sport: it is the reason a freshwater or estuary angler in the tropics cannot assume that sharks are a sea problem, and it is the species behind a great many questions about whether it is safe to wade, swim or fish a warm-water river mouth.

Handling and returning

A large, powerful, genuinely dangerous animal, and the honest guidance is to avoid handling one at all. Do not attempt to bring a large bull shark aboard a small boat, and do not attempt to land one on a bank to unhook it. THE CORRECT DEFAULT IS TO CUT THE TRACE as close as can be safely reached and let the animal go — a shark released with a trace is a far better outcome than an injured angler, and elasmobranch hooks corrode. Where a fish is handled at all, it should be alongside and in the water, with a T-bar or long-nosed pliers on a long handle, by people who do this routinely. Never put a hand near the mouth or gill slits. On the fish's side, the usual elasmobranch principles apply and matter: no swim bladder, so release works; keep the fight short with adequate tackle, since exhaustion kills released sharks; and never lift a large shark by the tail or allow it to hang unsupported. FOR SWIMMERS, WADERS AND BANK ANGLERS in bull shark country the guidance is about avoidance: avoid turbid water at dawn and dusk, avoid river mouths after heavy rain when prey and carrion are washing down, do not swim near people fishing or cleaning fish, and take local warnings seriously rather than treating them as excessive.

How a shark lives in fresh water, and why that puts it where people are

Most sharks cannot survive in fresh water for long. Understanding why makes the bull shark's achievement clear, and explains where it turns up.

THE PROBLEM IS OSMOSIS. A shark's body fluids are kept at roughly the same concentration as seawater, largely by retaining urea and other solutes. That works perfectly in the sea. Move the same animal into fresh water and it is now far saltier than its surroundings, so water floods inward across the gills and salts leak out — a serious and rapidly worsening physiological problem.

THE BULL SHARK ADJUSTS RATHER THAN ENDURES. It regulates how much urea and salt it retains as salinity changes, dumping the excess water through greatly increased urine production and recovering salts through the gills and rectal gland. This is not a shark tolerating fresh water briefly; it is a shark actively re-tuning its physiology and living there.

SO IT GOES A VERY LONG WAY UP. Records exist from many hundreds of kilometres inland in major river systems including the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Zambezi and the Ganges, and the species occurs in some lakes connected to the sea. The Zambezi shark and the river shark of various local usages are this animal.

AND THE JUVENILES LIVE THERE ON PURPOSE. Pups are born in estuaries and river mouths and spend their first several years in brackish and fresh water. The reason is straightforward: large marine sharks cannot follow them there. Low-salinity water is a nursery precisely because it is a refuge.

WHICH IS WHERE THE TROUBLE COMES FROM, IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.

FOR PEOPLE: the water bull sharks use is the water people use. Muddy river mouths, harbours, lagoons, canals and the shallow coast — turbid, warm, shallow, and full of banks people fish from and shallows people wade and swim in. A shark hunting by smell and electroreception in water where nothing can be seen is a shark that investigates unfamiliar objects by bumping them, and that is the mechanism behind most serious incidents.

FOR THE SHARK: those same estuaries and rivers are dredged, dammed, polluted, and modified. A species whose juveniles depend on low-salinity nursery habitat for years is exposed to every one of those pressures, and it matures too late to recover quickly. That is why an animal this formidable is assessed as Vulnerable.

THE PRACTICAL POINT IS SIMPLE. In the tropics you cannot assume fresh or brackish water means no sharks. Local warnings about specific river mouths are not folklore, and they are usually about this species.

NOTHING HERE STATES WHETHER THIS ANIMAL MAY BE TAKEN WHERE YOU ARE. Tropical fisheries rules are frequently set island by island, state by state or park by park rather than nationally, several of these species are protected somewhere in their range, marine reserves are common and their boundaries are not obvious from the water, and the rules are revised. Ask the local fisheries authority or park authority before fishing, spearing or gathering.

Scientific evidence

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category and the population assessment behind it, which is a statement about the species rather than about any managed fishery.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Taking the risk seriously without turning it into a horror story

This is one of a small number of shark species genuinely implicated in serious attacks on people, and both halves of that sentence need respecting: it is real, and it is a small number of species and a small number of events.

WHY THIS SPECIES SPECIFICALLY. Four things combine. It is large and very powerfully built. It hunts in turbid shallow water where neither party can see the other. It is aggressive towards competitors, including other bull sharks. And it occupies estuaries, river mouths, harbours and surf zones — the water people are actually in.

THE BUMP-AND-BITE BEHAVIOUR IS THE MECHANISM. In water where vision is useless, an animal that needs to identify an unfamiliar object does so by contacting it. That is not malice and it is not hunting behaviour in the usual sense; it is investigation by an animal with no gentle way to investigate.

WHAT ACTUALLY RAISES RISK, in order of how much you can control it:

TURBID WATER AT DAWN AND DUSK. The combination of low light and low visibility is the classic one.

RIVER MOUTHS AFTER HEAVY RAIN, when runoff carries prey, carrion and livestock downstream and concentrates feeding activity.

BEING NEAR FISHING OR FISH CLEANING. Bait, blood, offal and struggling hooked fish are precisely the signals the animal hunts by. Do not swim near anglers, near a cleaning station, or near a boat discarding scraps.

SPEARFISHING, which as with any shark changes the situation completely: a speared fish transmits distress and blood, and a diver holding it is holding food. Float lines rather than stringers at the waist, and fish out of the water promptly.

AND THE HONEST PROPORTION. Serious shark incidents are rare events. Far more people are hurt in tropical coastal water by currents, boats, heat and the animals nobody photographs — stonefish, stingrays, urchins. Treating a bull shark river mouth with respect is sensible; refusing to go in the sea is not what the evidence supports.

IF YOU FISH FOR THEM, the honest handling advice is largely 'do not handle'. Do not bring a large bull shark into a small boat or drag one onto a bank. Cut the trace close and release the animal; that is better for the angler and, given exhaustion is what kills released sharks, usually better for the shark too. Where fish are handled it should be alongside, in the water, with long tools, by people who do it routinely.

AND KEEP THE FIGHT SHORT — the single biggest thing an angler controls for a late-maturing species in warm, low-oxygen water.

Authoritative guidance

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diving practice and marine hazard management, including behaviour around large marine animals.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Shark Trust identification guides and angling best practice — The Shark Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Shark and ray identification and the handling, unhooking and release practice asked of anglers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Blue-water and reef spearfishing practice, including quarry behaviour, approach and the judgement involved in deciding whether to take a shot.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Where to go next

Similar and related fish

Blue sharkBoth are requiem sharks in Carcharhinidae. The comparison is instructive rather than confusing: one is an oceanic wanderer of temperate and tropical seas, the other a coastal and estuarine specialist that enters fresh water.

What these connections rest on (1)

Scientific evidence — 1 connection

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

Blue shark
Taxonomic and practical relatedness recorded because confusable species matter more to a reader than a shared family does, with the evidence naming the species the edge is about.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Identification characters, family placement and biology of Carcharhinus leucas and of the species it is confused with, as set out for the fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters and family placement of Carcharhinus leucas as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

How it is caught

What these connections rest on (2)

Practitioner consensus — 2 connections

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

Ledgering
A statement about how a species is taken, which is practice convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.
- BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Reef and blue-water breath-hold hunting practice, including quarry behaviour, approach, catch handling and the judgement involved in taking a shot.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of quarry behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Livebaiting at sea
A statement about how a species is taken, which is practice convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.
- BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Reef and blue-water breath-hold hunting practice, including quarry behaviour, approach, catch handling and the judgement involved in taking a shot.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of quarry behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Where it lives

What these connections rest on (6)

Scientific evidence — 6 connections

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

Brackish water
A distributional claim about where a species is found, resting on the standard identification and compilation sources rather than on fishing report.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat association, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Estuary
A distributional claim about where a species is found, resting on the standard identification and compilation sources rather than on fishing report.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat association, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Harbours, piers and breakwaters
A distributional claim about where a species is found, resting on the standard identification and compilation sources rather than on fishing report.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat association, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Lowland rivers
A distributional claim about where a species is found, resting on the standard identification and compilation sources rather than on fishing report.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat association, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Mangrove
A habitat association resting on the regional identification and fisheries literature rather than on angling report.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Habitat association, depth range and distribution of the species concerned as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- The World's Mangroves and their Fisheries — FAO Forestry and Fisheries assessments — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome (Standards body)Relied on for: The dependence of tropical coastal fisheries species on mangrove and estuarine habitat, including the nursery function.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Tropical estuary and tidal creek
A habitat association resting on the regional identification and fisheries literature rather than on angling report.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Habitat association, depth range and distribution of the species concerned as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- The World's Mangroves and their Fisheries — FAO Forestry and Fisheries assessments — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome (Standards body)Relied on for: The dependence of tropical coastal fisheries species on mangrove and estuarine habitat, including the nursery function.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Understanding this fish

What these connections rest on (3)

Practitioner consensus — 2 connections

Catadromy, anadromy, and crossing the salinity line
A record pointing at the practice or mechanism that explains it, so the explanation lives once rather than being restated on every quarry page.
- BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Reef and blue-water breath-hold hunting practice, including quarry behaviour, approach, catch handling and the judgement involved in taking a shot.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of quarry behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Osmoregulation and diadromous fish
A record pointing at the practice or mechanism that explains it, so the explanation lives once rather than being restated on every quarry page.
- BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Reef and blue-water breath-hold hunting practice, including quarry behaviour, approach, catch handling and the judgement involved in taking a shot.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of quarry behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Scientific evidence — 1 connection

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

Decapod crustaceans as prey
A dietary claim recorded at GROUP level against a modelled prey concept, because the sources describe the prey as a group and this catalogue holds no species record from the right ocean to point at.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat association, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified

Safety reading

What these connections rest on (2)

Authoritative guidance — 2 connections

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

Dangerous animals where you fish
A hazard the species genuinely presents, joined to the record that explains how to manage it.
- NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diving practice and marine hazard management, including behaviour around large marine animals and the management of envenomation injuries.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Sharks and spearfishing
A hazard the species genuinely presents, joined to the record that explains how to manage it.
- NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diving practice and marine hazard management, including behaviour around large marine animals and the management of envenomation injuries.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Environment and conservation

What these connections rest on (2)

Scientific evidence — 2 connections

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

Fish stocks and sustainability
A conservation claim about a species with a documented assessment, joined to the environmental issue it exemplifies.
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category and the assessment behind it, including the reproductive and habitat factors driving it.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1995 (Standards body)Relied on for: Principles for responsible capture, including selectivity, the treatment of berried and undersized animals, and the precautionary approach.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Habitat damage from bank and shore access
A conservation claim about a species with a documented assessment, joined to the environmental issue it exemplifies.
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category and the assessment behind it, including the reproductive and habitat factors driving it.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1995 (Standards body)Relied on for: Principles for responsible capture, including selectivity, the treatment of berried and undersized animals, and the precautionary approach.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Check the rules before you fish

Fishing laws, bylaws, access rules, seasons, bait restrictions and permitted methods vary by location and can change. Check the current rules from the relevant authority and the water you intend to fish before fishing.

Check with:

Current national or regional law for where you are fishing
Current local bylaws
The relevant fisheries authority
The landowner, club or fishery whose water it is
Any restrictions specific to the species or the method you intend to use

Sources for this page

FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category for this species and the population assessment behind it, as published in the assessment dated 24 November 2020. Recorded with its date because a Red List category is revised, and a status with no date is a claim with no shelf life.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Shark Trust identification guides and angling best practice — The Shark Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Shark and ray identification and the handling, unhooking and release practice asked of anglers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.

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