The sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus) is a kind of grey reef shark which lives in temperate and tropical waters throughout the world.
In the Mediterranean sea it reaches two meters of length, with females slightly larger than males. In spite of their menacing look, sandbars are shy fishes that feed mainly on small fish, rays, other small sharks , cuttlefish, octopus and squids, crabs and shrimps.Males and females lead separate lives and only meet during their summer migrations, in may and june. In the mating season sandbars move to warm shallow waters.
After reaching shallow bays the females give birth to 5-6 young, which at birth are about 60 centimetres long.Sandbars are everywhere in the world an important part of fishery catches, both professional and amateur. On the US Atlantic coast they make up o 60% of bycatch in longlines; as for sport-fishing, sandbars catches are second only to blue sharks. With high capture rates and given that it reproduces only later in life, thsi shark has become quite rare (numbers crashed by 85%-90% in just ten years in the western Atlantic). IUCN declared it a 'vulnerable species'.
