Hello Shark people! Today I am gonna talk about an interesting species, the Salmon shark (Lamna ditropis). If you ever been in pretty cold water in regions such as Alaska or even Japan and got scared cause you were encountering a small Great White Shark, chances are it was his cousin the Salmon Shark, but even if it's smaller, this baby great white is a concentrate of energy and have been reported to be quiet aggressive.
This species is very well adapted to harsh environments and cold temperatures, its physiology is designed to concentrate around the brain and muscles and have the ability to increase the body temperature up to 10°C, these adaptations allow the shark to hunt prey such as tunas, salmons and herrings. This species is not a target for fisheries industry, but many cases of bycatch have been reported, in 2020 it is not considered a threatened species though and the dynamic of the population is stable (source: red list IUCN).
The anatomy of this predator is very similar to the Great White one, they can in fact be considered as "cousins". The upper part of the body is darker compared to the bottom, this is a strategic adaptation that allows the mimetism with the environment while hunting, the does not see the predator until it's too late. As previously mentioned, the size of the salmon shark is pretty small and doesn't exceed 3 mt of length, for approximately 100 kg of weight (females are usually bigger than males).
These animals have a lifespan of 25 on average and start to breed around 8 or 9 years, after a gestation of 9 months. They can give birth to 2 to 9 babies.
So yea, this was a quick presentation of the salmon shark! The interesting thing about this species is for sure to see the spectacular adaptations to harsh environments from adjusting the body temperature to concentrate blood in specific areas of the body to improve hunting effort. So let's take care of this mini great white :)