Porbeagle Shark Profile
The lamnids are large, fast, torpedoes of a fish, known for their power and speed. They’re some of the fastest fish in the ocean, though the colossal great white – king of the lamnids – is notably slower due to its enormous bulk.
Of the three genera in the family, Lamna is known for having the hottest sharks around. And then within this genus, the porbeagle shark is now emerging as perhaps one of the most emotionally intelligent.
Porbeagle Shark Facts Overview
| Habitat: | Marine |
| Location: | Worldwide outside the tropics |
| Lifespan: | Up to 40 years |
| Size: | 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) |
| Weight: | 218 kg (481 lbs) |
| Colour: | Grey-blue with a white belly |
| Diet: | Fish, squid, small sharks |
| Predators: | Orca, great whites |
| Top Speed: | Unknown, but fast |
| No. of Species: | 1 |
| Conservation Status: | Vulnerable (IUCN) |
With the name that sounds like an unfortunate dog, the porbeagle shark is actually a very established and active predator and is likely named for its muscular figure and relentless hunting style.
This is a powerful, pelagic predator and an unfortunate victim of the human tastebuds, as it’s in decline worldwide, and on a bad trajectory.
And this is a real pity because it’s the first shark species to show us they’re capable of play, opening the door for more research into the hidden complexities of sharks.
Interesting Porbeagle Shark Facts
1. Porpoise beagles
This is a close relative of some of the most iconic fish in the social consciousness. Similar in shape to a great white, it’s smaller, with a more conical snout and more of a rotund figure.
This roundness is perhaps what gave it half its name, as it’s suggested that the shark is named after a porpoise and a beagle. Other common names refer to its dogged nature too; it’s sometimes known as the “Blue dog”, presumably for the same reason.
Porbeagles are essentially white sharks, like the great white, in the family Lamnidae.
These sharks are streamlined and powerful and are highly adapted for aggressive predation. Fortunately for us, they’re not all that big, maxing out at around 250kg and under four meters.
This might still sound intimidating, but a shark this large is usually more interested in octopus and small fish than your blubbery butt.
One way to get a hint of what a shark (or any other animal) eats is to look at its teeth. Where its larger cousin, the great white, has wide, serrated teeth for sawing through mammal flesh, the porbeagle has smooth, narrow blades – much better for gripping slippery fish. 1
2. They travel a lot
Like many of the Lamnids, porbeagle sharks are ever on the move. These muscular endurance athletes engage in epic migrations, sometimes up to 13,000km in range, and some simply never stop in one place.
Studies on how long they keep moving are limited by how long tags will stay on sharks, and in at least a few cases, the migration has outlasted the researchers’ ability to monitor the shark. We do know that this is a shark capable of swimming for more or less 348 days straight, perhaps a lot longer.
While they love to move, they also demonstrate what’s called site fidelity, often returning to their favourite stomping grounds, perhaps out of a sense of familiarity. 2
3. But they don’t seem to mingle
These are cold-water sharks that prefer to stay out of tropical waters. Other than that, they’re not very fussy about where they call home and occupy seas and oceans all over the world.
But populations in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres don’t appear to cross over much. Instead, several discrete populations in various regions never interact with one another.
From the hundreds of tracked sharks, only one was recorded crossing the Atlantic, and this one went from Ireland to Canada, covering 4,260km.
They appear to segregate themselves by sex and size, with some populations being predominantly female, and some being predominantly male. Older individuals tend to venture farther North than juveniles.
4. They have a lot of energy
This shark burns hot. Like its cinematic cousin, it’s able to raise its body temperature to levels higher than the surrounding water. It’s even better than the great white at this – able to reach up to 10 °C hotter than the ocean – only the salmon shark is hotter than a porbeagle.
This superpower comes at a metabolic cost, and as a result, porbeagles have a voracious appetite. But it’s also a huge advantage to speed and explosive power. It’s been known to leap out of the water, and it’s thought that the higher body temperature also allows for faster cruising speeds, getting it to where it needs to be in a shorter time than its rivals.
5. They play
The common image of a shark as being a mechanical, cold-blooded killer is outdated and unfair. It’s also damaging to an entire class of animals whose conservation is extremely important.
We tend to create monsters out of what we fear, and in sharks, this has led to a huge amount of neglect. In reality, they’re intelligent, emotional animals, and a great demonstration of this comes from observations of this species of juveniles engaging in play.
They’ve been seen playing with objects and enthusiastically chasing one another in what appears to be a recreational fashion.
This makes sense for a shark with so much energy, and while it’s a rare observation in the shark world, it does hint at the complexity that these animals hide behind their expressionless faces. 3
6. They’ve long been fished for food
But sadly, people are more interested in eating these fish than playing with them. Porbeagle meat is popular all over the world, and the fins from northern populations are shipped off to countries in Asia for their soups.
While they’re mostly caught on lines, they’re also susceptible to gillnets and trawlers. Even if it’s caught as bycatch, the body is usually kept, but often when there’s not enough space, the fins are removed and the shark discarded.
As a result of this, the species as a whole is in decline and is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. 4
Porbeagle Shark Fact-File Summary
Scientific Classification
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Order: | Lamniformes |
| Family: | Lamnidae |
| Genus: | Lamna |
| Species: | Nasus |
Fact Sources & References
- “Porbeagle Shark”, Oceana.
- Gérard Biais (2017), “Return migration patterns of porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus) in the Northeast Atlantic: implications for stock range and structure”, Oxford Academic.
- “Biology of the Porbeagle (Lamna nasus)”, Elasmo Research.
- “Porbeagle”, IUCN Red List.