Canadian Shark Conservancy
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SHARKS IN CANADIAN WATERS

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10 PROFILESATLANTIC · PACIFIC · ARCTICPUBLIC-SAFE DATA
01 / ATLANTIC CANADA · PACIFIC CANADACommon thresher hooked by the tail off southern California; the long upper tail lobe is visible.

Common Thresher Shark

Alopias vulpinus

A long-tailed pelagic predator, seasonally recorded in Atlantic Canada and rare in British Columbia.

VIEW PROFILE ↗02 / ATLANTICConceptual split-level Atlantic scene with a porbeagle below the surface and a fishing vessel in the distance.

Porbeagle

Lamna nasus

A powerful cold-water shark built for speed.

VIEW PROFILE ↗03 / ATLANTIC · ARCTICA Greenland shark swimming beneath Arctic sea ice.

Greenland shark

Somniosus microcephalus

An Arctic deep-water shark with an extraordinary lifespan.

VIEW PROFILE ↗04 / PACIFICA bluntnose sixgill shark swimming above Santa Rosa Reef south of Guam

Bluntnose sixgill shark

Hexanchus griseus

A deep-water shark whose lineage reaches far back in time.

VIEW PROFILE ↗05 / ATLANTIC · PACIFICA blue shark swimming in profile through clear blue water.

Blue shark

Prionace glauca

A wide-ranging ocean traveller with unmistakable colour.

VIEW PROFILE ↗06 / ATLANTIC · PACIFICA basking shark swimming underwater with its mouth open while filter feeding.

Basking shark

Cetorhinus maximus

Canada's gentle, plankton-feeding ocean giant.

VIEW PROFILE ↗07 / PACIFICA Salmon Shark recorded inside a NOAA CamTrawl survey net.

Salmon shark

Lamna ditropis

A fast, warm-bodied hunter of the North Pacific.

VIEW PROFILE ↗08 / ATLANTIC CANADAA male white shark swimming near Isla Guadalupe, Mexico.

White shark

Carcharodon carcharias

One of Canada's most recognized large sharks—and part of a wider North Atlantic population.

VIEW PROFILE ↗09 / ATLANTIC CANADAA shortfin mako shark swimming through clear blue water.

Shortfin mako

Isurus oxyrinchus

A fast, open-ocean shark connected to the wider North Atlantic.

VIEW PROFILE ↗10 / ATLANTIC CANADA · PACIFIC CANADAA spiny dogfish swimming above a sandy seafloor.

Spiny dogfish

Squalus acanthias

A smaller shark that broadens our understanding of Canadian shark diversity.

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Canada is bordered by three oceans—and sharks belong to all three.

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