
LIVE WEBCAM - BLACK TIP REEF SHARKS AT BALTIMORE AQUARIUM
- Local Time
- Location: National Aquarium, Baltimore, United States
- Source: www.aqua.org
- Info: Live streaming webcam showing blacktip reef sharks at the National Aquarium, Baltimore, United States. This live webcam shows a coral-filled exhibit, replicating Indo-Pacific reefs. As well as the sharks you will see brightly coloured reef fish and rays.
The blacktip reef shark is a moderately-sized, brownish shark with a blunt snout, horizontally oval eyes, and black tips on all the fins except for the anal fin, which is white. The Blacktip Reef shark is one of only a few sharks that can jump fully out of the water, a behaviour called ‘breaching’. They have also been observed surfacing to look around - an action called ‘spy-hopping’.
Blacktip reef sharks are timid and skittish and though they have occasionally been known to bite people that are swimming or wading, they do not pose a serious threat to humans. The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) has recorded just 11 unprovoked blacktip reef shark bites on humans since 1959.
The Blacktip Reef shark status, is ‘Near Threatened’. They are often the by catch from other fisheries and are frequently wasted. Their populations are declining and so are the population of many other shark species. Blacktip reef shark fins are used for shark fin soup which is a major factor in the population decline.