On 8 November 1996, a female thresher shark (Figure 1) was caught in a purse seine full of bluefish (Pomatomus saltator), off Şile (41°15′24″N 29°35′30″E). The shark was photographed and tooth samples from lower and upper jaws were removed, and placed in the personal collection of the author. The total length of the shark was 453 cm.Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788) is one of the three species of the family Alopiidae (Compagno, 1984). The thresher shark occurs worldwide, usually far offshore in temperate to tropical oceans, but where there are schools of bluefish, mackerel and squid, it may come close to the shore in pursuit. It is one of the most common shark species in the Mediterranean Sea (Quero, 1984). According to Devedjian (1926), Rhasis Erazi (1942) and Slastenenko (1955–1956) thresher sharks occur in the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Black Sea, however, over the last 40 years there have been no reports of this species in these areas (Ak§iray, 1987).
Occurrence of the Pregnant and Young Thresher Shark Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788) (Lamniformes: Alopiidae) in the Northeastern Mediterranean Sea