Bronze Whaler

The copper shark has a slender, streamlined body with a slightly arched profile just behind the head. The snout is rather long and pointed, with the nostrils preceded by low flaps of skin. The round, moderately large eyes are equipped with nictitating membranes (protective third eyelids). The mouth has short, subtle furrows at the corners and contains 29–35 upper tooth rows and 29–33 lower tooth rows. The teeth are serrated with single narrow cusps; the upper teeth have a distinctive hooked shape and become more angled towards the corners of the jaw, while the lower teeth are upright. The upper teeth of adult males are longer, narrower, more curved, and more finely serrated than those of adult females and juveniles. The five pairs of gill slits are fairly long.

The copper shark is the only member of its genus largely found in temperate rather than tropical waters, in temperatures above 12 °C (54 °F). It is widely distributed but as disjunct regional populations with little to no interchange between them. In the Atlantic, this shark occurs from the Mediterranean Sea to Morocco and the Canary Islands, off Argentina, and off Namibia and South Africa (where there may be two separate populations), with infrequent records from Mauritania, the Gulf of Guinea, and possibly the Gulf of Mexico. In the Indo-Pacific, it is found from the East China Sea to Japan (excluding Hokkaido) and southern Russia, off southern Australia (mostly between Sydney and Perth but occasionally further north), and around New Zealand but not as far as the Kermadec Islands; there are also unconfirmed reports from the Seychelles and the Gulf of Thailand.

The copper shark feeds more towards the bottom of the water column than the top, consuming cephalopods, including squid (Loligo spp.), cuttlefishes, and octopus; bony fishes, including gurnards, flatfishes, hakes, catfishes, jacks, Australian salmon, Atlantic salmon, mullets, sea breams, smelts, tunas, sardines, Cape horse mackerel, and anchovies; and cartilaginous fishes, including dogfish sharks (Squalus spp.), stingrays, skates, electric rays, and sawfishes. Cephalopods and cartilaginous fishes become relatively more important food for sharks over 2 m (6.6 ft) long. Young sharks also consume scyphozoan jellyfish and crustaceans, including mud shrimps (Callianassa) and penaeid prawns. It does not attack marine mammals, though it has been known to scavenge (rarely) on dolphins that had succumbed to fishing nets.

Fast but active, the copper shark may be encountered alone, in pairs, or in loosely organized schools containing up to hundreds of individuals. Some aggregations seem to form for reproductive purposes, while others form to concentrations of food. This species may fall prey to larger sharks and killer whales. Known parasites of the copper shark include the tapeworms Cathetocephalus australis, Dasyrhynchus pacificus and D. talismani, Floriceps minacanthus, Phoreiobothrium robertsoni, and Pseudogrillotia spratti, the leech Stibarobdella macrothela, and the fluke Otodistomum veliporum.

Copper sharks attack humans infrequently, but the species places tenth in the number of unprovoked attacks on people. During the tracking period through 2013, the University of Florida attributed 20 attacks to the species. (In comparison, great white sharks topped the list, with 279 attacks.) the copper shark is not particularly aggressive towards humans unless in the presence of food. Copper Sharks have been known to harass and attack spear fishers in an attempt to steal catches. Copper sharks have bitten several swimmers in Australia and New Zealand, where the species is common. (The species is commonly called bronze whalers in this part of the world.)