Tiger Shark

The tiger shark is a big, powerful fish that glides through the warm oceans of the world. It gets its name from the dark stripes and spots along its back and sides, which look a little like a tiger's coat. Young tiger sharks have the clearest stripes, and these slowly fade as the shark grows older.

Tiger sharks are one of the largest kinds of shark in the sea. They often grow between about three and a half and nearly five metres long, and the females are bigger than the males. A really large female can be longer than five metres, which is about the length of a small car and a half parked end to end.

These sharks are curious eaters and will try all sorts of food, such as fish, squid, crabs, sea turtles, and seabirds. They tend to swim closer to shore to feed when it is dark and move out into deeper water during the day. Tiger sharks usually keep away from people and simply go about their own business in the sea.

As big ocean predators, tiger sharks play an important part in keeping the sea healthy. By eating animals that are sick, slow, or very common, they help keep everything in balance, a bit like a clean-up crew for the ocean. This makes them a key member of the underwater community.

There are fewer tiger sharks than there used to be, so the IUCN lists them as near threatened. The main reason is fishing, because sharks are sometimes caught in nets or hunted for their fins. Many countries are now working to protect sharks so these striped swimmers can keep patrolling the oceans for a long time.