Fisheries Infosite

School Shark Chatham Rise (SCH4)
Maori name
Scientific name
Galeorhinus galeus

Physical characteristics

School Shark are brown-grey on top and white on the underside. They are distinguishable from other species by the upper tail lobe, which is flag-like. They can grow to a maximum length of 175 cm.

Life cycle

There is no New Zealand age data for School Shark, but Australian data suggests a maximum age of 50 years. The same data shows males reaching sexual maturity at 12-17 years old and 13-15 years old for females. Spawning is thought to take place every 3 years.

Habitat

School shark are found throughout New Zealand water over the continental shelf. In summer they are mostly found inshore and in winter they live offshore in depths up to 800 m. They feed on small fish and cephalopods.

 
Key statistics
Recreational significance Medium
Customary significance Medium
Reported commercial catch1 (tonnes)
Quota value estimate2 (NZ$m)
Exports estimate2 (NZ$m)
1 Reported commercial catch is calculated for the 12 month period to 30/09/2025
2 Quota value and exports are calculated pro-rata to reported commercial catch for the 12 month period to 30/09/2025