Know your sharks.

📏 Size: Adults usually 11–16 ft (3.4–4.9 m)

🗺️ Where: Cooler coastal waters, including California and the Northeast (such as Cape Cod).

👁️ How to identify:

• Slate-gray back with a sharp line to a bright white belly
• Thick, torpedo-shaped body and pointed, cone-shaped snout
• Large triangular dorsal fin and crescent-shaped tail
• Black eyes, no visible pupil

🌊 Behavior: Often hunts seals and sea lions near the surface, especially around colonies and river mouths.

📏 Size: Adults usually 10–14 ft (3–4.3 m)

🗺️ Where: Warm waters, including Hawaii, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.

👁️ How to identify:

• Dark vertical stripes on the sides (clearest on young sharks, fading with age)
• Very short, blunt, almost square snout
• Large head and long upper tail lobe

🌊 Behavior: Eats almost anything and may come into shallow water at night.

📏 Size: Adults usually 7–11 ft (2.1–3.4 m)

🗺️ Where: Warm, shallow coastal water, including Florida and the Gulf. Can swim into bays, brackish water and rivers.

👁️ How to identify:

• Stocky, heavy body
• Short, wide, blunt snout
• Plain gray back and white belly, no strong markings

🌊 Behavior: Comfortable in murky, shallow water close to where people swim.

📏 Size: From about 3 ft (bonnethead) to 13+ ft (great hammerhead)

🗺️ Where: Warm waters, including Florida, the Gulf and the Atlantic coast.

👁️ How to identify:

• Flat, wide, hammer-shaped head (rounded “shovel” on the small bonnethead)
• Tall, curved dorsal fin on larger species

🌊 Behavior: Mostly hunts stingrays and fish along the bottom; shy around people.

📏 Size: Adults usually 4–6 ft (1.2–1.8 m)

🗺️ Where: Warm coastal water, including Florida, the Gulf and the Carolinas.

👁️ How to identify:

• Black tips on most fins
• Slim body and pointed snout
• Often seen in groups, sometimes leaping and spinning out of the water

🌊 Behavior: Chases schools of baitfish into the surf. Many minor bites in Florida are blamed on blacktips mistaking a hand or foot for a fish.

📏 Size: Adults usually 6–10 ft (1.8–3 m)

🗺️ Where: Atlantic coast, often around shipwrecks, reefs and inlets.

👁️ How to identify:

• Rows of ragged, pointed teeth visible even with the mouth closed
• Two dorsal fins of similar size
• Light brown or gray, sometimes with darker spots

🌊 Behavior: Slow-moving and calm; often hovers near the bottom.

📏 Size: Adults usually 7–9 ft (2.1–2.7 m)

🗺️ Where: Warm, shallow water around Florida, the Keys and the Caribbean.

👁️ How to identify:

• Brown body that often rests on the sea floor
• Two whisker-like barbels by the nostrils
• Small mouth and rounded fins

🌊 Behavior: Spends the day resting on the bottom. Can bite and hold on if grabbed or stepped on — leave it alone.

📏 Size: Adults usually 4–5 ft (1.2–1.5 m)

🗺️ Where: Shallow bays and beaches in California, such as La Jolla.

👁️ How to identify:

• Dark saddle-shaped bars and spots along the back
• Slim, silvery-bronze body
• Often seen in groups in very shallow, calm water

🌊 Behavior: Feeds on crabs, clams and small fish; swims away from people.