Carcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy & Gaimard 1824)

Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, Zootaxa 4588 (1), pp. 1-360 : 41

Carcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy & Gaimard 1824) — Blacktip reef shark ( Fig. 4 )

Status at New Ireland. First recorded from New Ireland as Carcharias melanopterus by Peters (1877: 853); reported as Carcharhinus spallanzani (non Péron & LeSueur in LeSueur, 1822) by Munro (1958: 112). Specimens observed at Kavieng fish market in 2004–2005 by Jeff Kinch during CFMDP Survey and underwater behind Nusa Lik Island and Lissenung Island in 2015 ( White & Ko'ou 2018: 36). A specimen photographed at Lissenung Island by Dietmar Amon on 9 July 2008; another photographed at St. KVG18 (south side of Bauddisson Island, Kavieng District) by Serge Andréfouët on 18 Aug. 2014.

Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 2.—General distribution: Red Sea, East Africa and Mascarenes east to Hawaiian and Tuamotu islands, north to southern Japan, south to northern Australia. Found on coral reefs, in shallow lagoons, reef flats and seaward reefs, 0–10 m depth. Marine.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Carcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy & Gaimard 1824), Bauddisson Island, Kavieng District, St. KVG18, 18 Aug. 2014 (underwater photograph: Serge Andréfouët).