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The tail of a shark consists of the caudal peduncle and the caudal fin, which provide the main source of thrust for the shark. Most sharks have heterocercal caudal fins, meaning that the backbone extends into the (usually longer) upper lobe. The shape of the caudal fin reflects the shark's lifestyle, and can be broadly divided into five categories:
• Measuring a shark's total length can be challenging due to the natural angle at which the caudal lobes are positioned relative to the rest of the shark's body. Some reports calculate the total length by adding the caudal fin to the pre-caudal length, or by stretching the caudal fin to the maximum possible (sometimes referred to as stretched ...
The caudal fin has a strong lateral keel and a crescent shape. Other common names include bone shark, elephant shark, sailfish, and sunfish. In Orkney, it is called hoe-mother (contracted homer), meaning "the mother of the piked dogfish". [5] The basking shark is a cosmopolitan migratory species found in
For example, the whale shark reported by Kaikini et al. (1959) was reported at 12.1 m in total length, the precaudal length was reported at 9.84 m, and the upper caudal fin was 2.31 m. Reaching the reported total length of 12.1 m would require the upper caudal fin to be illustrated at a very shallow angle.
Crescent-shaped notches occur on the caudal peduncle at the upper and lower origins of the caudal fin. The upper caudal fin lobe is enormously elongated as is characteristic of threshers, measuring about as long as the rest of the shark; the thin, gently curving lobe is held at a steep upward angle and has a notch in the trailing margin near ...
Most of the demand comes from Europe, though the United States and Japan also import this species. The fins are shipped to East Asia for use in shark fin soup. The remainder of the shark may also be used for production of leather, liver oil, and fishmeal. International trade in the porbeagle appears to be significant, but remains unquantified ...
Caudal/Tail fins: Also called the tail fins, caudal fins are attached to the end of the caudal peduncle and used for propulsion. The caudal peduncle is the narrow part of the fish's body. The hypural joint is the joint between the caudal fin and the last of the vertebrae. The hypural is often fan-shaped.
The caudal fin is short, with no lower lobe and an upper lobe bearing a strong ventral notch near the tip. This species has a mosaic -like dorsal color pattern consisting of numerous small, dark blotches and lines on a gray- or yellow-brown background; there may also be darker bands.