The shortfin mako is the fastest shark in the ocean and one of the most widely distributed of all pelagic predators, ranging across every temperate and tropical sea on Earth. A member of the mackerel shark family Lamnidae — the same lineage as the white shark — it pairs high-performance physiology with a slow, late-reproducing life history that leaves it acutely exposed to fishing. Sustained removals by industrial longline fleets, driven by demand for its fins and meat, have caused steep population declines worldwide, and the species is now classified as at risk across its global range [Rigby et al. 2019; Pacoureau et al. 2021]. This profile examines what makes the shortfin mako biologically remarkable, why those traits put it at such risk, and the international measures now deployed to halt its decline.
Biology and Identification
The shortfin mako is a large, spindle-shaped lamnid with a sharply pointed snout, a deep blue dorsal surface grading to metallic silver and white below, and slender, recurved teeth visible even when the mouth is closed. Maximum total length reaches roughly 4 m. The body terminates in a near-symmetrical, lunate caudal fin set on a laterally keeled tail base — built for sustained high-speed swimming.
That speed is real and measured. Using animal-borne bio-loggers, researchers recorded a maximum burst speed of 5.02 m s⁻¹ and routine cruising near 0.90 m s⁻¹, among the highest swimming performances directly measured in any shark, tuna, or billfish [Waller et al. 2023]. Underpinning this is regional endothermy: like other lamnids, the shortfin mako uses vascular counter-current heat exchangers (retia mirabilia) to keep its swimming muscles, viscera, brain, and eyes warmer than the surrounding water — enabling powerful, efficient propulsion at one of the highest energetic costs of any marine fish [Waller et al. 2023].
The species' greatest weakness lies in its reproduction. In the North Atlantic, validated ageing of vertebral growth bands places female maturity at roughly 18–21 years and confirms longevity of at least 28–32 years [Natanson et al. 2006]. Reproduction is aplacental viviparous: litters of typically 4–25 pups, each born at around 70 cm, follow a gestation of 15–18 months, and females are thought to reproduce only once every three years [Mollet et al. 2000]. This combination of late maturity, long gestation, and a multi-year resting cycle gives the species very low intrinsic productivity.
Habitat and Range
The shortfin mako is a true cosmopolitan of the open ocean, occurring in temperate and tropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, including the Mediterranean Sea. It is an epipelagic species, generally found from the surface to several hundred metres in waters warmer than about 16°C, ranging from coastal shelf waters out across the high seas [Rigby et al. 2019].
Satellite tracking shows that individuals undertake extensive migrations whose preferred habitats overlap heavily with industrial fishing grounds. A global analysis of tagged pelagic sharks found that space-use hotspots of internationally protected and commercially valuable species overlapped with longline fleets by as much as 64–76%, leaving these wide-ranging animals with little spatial refuge on the high seas [Queiroz et al. 2019]. Because the shortfin mako roams across national boundaries, its conservation depends on coordinated international management.
In accordance with NRWL sensitive-species policy, specific aggregation sites, nursery locations, and detailed seasonal movement routes are not disclosed in this article.
Conservation Status
The shortfin mako is assessed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, under a global 2019 assessment that documented an inferred population reduction approaching 50–79% over three generations, driven primarily by fishing across the Atlantic, Pacific, and beyond [Rigby et al. 2019].
Some regional pictures are more severe than the global figure. In the Mediterranean Sea the species has declined by an inferred 80% or more and the regional subpopulation is classified as Critically Endangered [Rigby et al. 2019]. The shortfin mako was also among the species in a landmark analysis showing that global abundance of oceanic sharks and rays fell by 71% between 1970 and 2020, such that three-quarters of this assemblage are now threatened with extinction [Pacoureau et al. 2021].
In recognition of unsustainable trade, both mako species were added to CITES Appendix II at the 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP18) in 2019, a listing that entered into force on 28 November 2019 and now requires international trade in their fins and meat to be supported by legality and sustainability findings [WWF 2019].
Threats
Fisheries bycatch is the dominant threat. The shortfin mako is caught in large numbers as incidental catch — and in some fisheries as a target — by pelagic longline and driftnet fleets pursuing tuna and swordfish [Rigby et al. 2019]. Because its high-use areas coincide so closely with longline effort, fishing mortality is high and difficult to avoid [Queiroz et al. 2019].
The fin and meat trade drives retention of captured animals. Mako fins are valued in the international fin trade and its firm meat is widely marketed, creating incentives to keep rather than release sharks brought up on longlines — a key reason the CITES Appendix II listing was pursued [WWF 2019].
Low biological resilience magnifies every other pressure. With maturity delayed to nearly two decades, a multi-year reproductive cycle, and modest litter sizes, populations rebuild only slowly once depleted [Mollet et al. 2000; Natanson et al. 2006]. The 18-fold rise in relative fishing pressure on oceanic sharks since 1970 has thus pushed the shortfin mako into sustained, range-wide decline [Pacoureau et al. 2021].
What Is Being Done
International trade regulation. The CITES Appendix II listing adopted at CoP18 requires exporting countries to certify that traded mako products were legally sourced and not detrimental to wild populations, bringing global trade in fins and meat under formal scrutiny for the first time [WWF 2019].
Regional fisheries management. In November 2021, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) adopted a binding measure prohibiting retention of North Atlantic shortfin mako caught in association with ICCAT fisheries — a full retention ban across member fleets, with any future limited retention contingent on stock recovery [NOAA Fisheries 2021]. The United States gave domestic effect to this measure through a zero retention limit [NOAA Fisheries 2022].
Assessment and movement science. Bodies including ICCAT and the IUCN Shark Specialist Group maintain region-specific stock assessments that underpin management and track rebuilding targets [Rigby et al. 2019]. Large-scale satellite-tagging programmes map where makos concentrate and how those areas overlap with fishing fleets, supplying evidence to design effective high-seas protections [Queiroz et al. 2019].
How Readers Can Help
Citizen science. Record verified shark sightings and catches through platforms such as iNaturalist and regional tagging programmes; these data feed directly into the distribution maps and assessments managers use.
Policy engagement. Support full implementation and enforcement of CITES Appendix II trade controls and of regional retention bans such as ICCAT's North Atlantic measure, and back science-based catch limits for highly migratory sharks [WWF 2019; NOAA Fisheries 2021].
Informed consumer choices. Avoid shark-fin products and choose seafood certified by credible sustainability programmes; lower demand for mako fins and meat reduces the incentive to retain captured animals [WWF 2019].
Education outreach. Share accurate, science-based information about the ecological role of oceanic predators and the slow reproductive biology that makes them so sensitive to fishing [Pacoureau et al. 2021].
References
[Mollet et al. 2000] Mollet, H.F., Cliff, G., Pratt, H.L. Jr. & Stevens, J.D. (2000). Reproductive biology of the female shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus Rafinesque, 1810, with comments on the embryonic development of lamnoids. Fishery Bulletin, 98(2), 299–318. https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/content/reproductive-biology-female-shortfin-mako-isurus-oxyrinchus-rafinesque-1810-comments
[Natanson et al. 2006] Natanson, L.J., Kohler, N.E., Ardizzone, D., Cailliet, G.M., Wintner, S.P. & Mollet, H.F. (2006). Validated age and growth estimates for the shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus, in the North Atlantic Ocean. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 77, 367–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-006-9127-z
[NOAA Fisheries 2021] NOAA Fisheries. (2021). Measures to Rebuild Shortfin Mako and Increase U.S. Western Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Quota Adopted at 2021 Meeting of ICCAT. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/measures-rebuild-shortfin-mako-and-increase-us-western-atlantic-bluefin-tuna-quota
[NOAA Fisheries 2022] NOAA Fisheries. (2022). Zero Atlantic Shortfin Mako Shark Retention Limit. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/zero-atlantic-shortfin-mako-shark-retention-limit
[Pacoureau et al. 2021] Pacoureau, N., Rigby, C.L., Kyne, P.M., Sherley, R.B., Winker, H., Carlson, J.K., Fordham, S.V., Barreto, R., Fernando, D., Francis, M.P., Jabado, R.W., Herman, K.B., Liu, K.-M., Marshall, A.D., Pollom, R.A., Romanov, E.V., Simpfendorfer, C.A., Yin, J.S., Kindsvater, H.K. & Dulvy, N.K. (2021). Half a century of global decline in oceanic sharks and rays. Nature, 589, 567–571. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-03173-9
[Queiroz et al. 2019] Queiroz, N., Humphries, N.E., Couto, A., Vedor, M., da Costa, I., Sequeira, A.M.M., Mucientes, G., Santos, A.M., Abascal, F.J., Abercrombie, D.L., Abrantes, K., Acuña-Marrero, D. et al. (2019). Global spatial risk assessment of sharks under the footprint of fisheries. Nature, 572, 461–466. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1444-4
[Rigby et al. 2019] Rigby, C.L., Barreto, R., Carlson, J., Fernando, D., Fordham, S., Francis, M.P., Herman, K., Jabado, R.W., Liu, K.M., Marshall, A., Pacoureau, N., Romanov, E., Sherley, R.B. & Winker, H. (2019). Isurus oxyrinchus (Shortfin Mako). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T39341A2903170. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T39341A2903170.en
[Waller et al. 2023] Waller, M.J., Queiroz, N., da Costa, I., Cidade, T., Loureiro, B., Womersley, F.C., Fontes, J., Afonso, P., Macena, B.C.L., Loveridge, A., Humphries, N.E. & Sims, D.W. (2023). Direct measurement of cruising and burst swimming speeds of the shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) with estimates of field metabolic rate. Journal of Fish Biology, 103(4), 864–876. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15475
[WWF 2019] WWF Sharks. (2019). A ray of hope for mako sharks and rhino rays at CITES CoP18 — 18 threatened shark species added to Appendix II. https://sharks.panda.org/news-blogs-updates/latest-news/a-ray-of-hope-for-mako-sharks-and-rhino-rays-at-cites-cop18-18-threatened-shark-species-added-to-appendix-ii