Thresher taken at the Goleta Pier by Big Red
Thresher Sharks: Family Alopiidae
Species: Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788); from the Greek word alopos and Latin word vulpes, (both meaning fox).
Alternate Names: Thresher, blue thresher, longtail shark, swiveltail, fox shark, sea fox, fish shark, sea ope, pesca pavone. A worldwide range with a worldwide list of foreign names—pez zorro (Spanish), cação-pena (Portuguese), faux (French), fuchshai (German), aleposkylos (Greek), big-eye thresher (English), budenb (Maltese), cacao-raposa (Portuguese), chichi espada (Spanish), coleto (Spanish), coludo (Spanish), coludo pinto (Spanish), drescherhai (German), grayfish (English), grillo (Spanish), guadaña (Spanish), guilla (Catalan), jarjur (Arabic), kalb (Arabic), karage (Swahili), kettuhai (Finnish), Kosogon (Polish), K’wet’thenéchte (Salish), Langschweif (German), Loup de mer (French), mango-ripi (Maori), ma’o aero (Tahitian), mao-naga (Japanese), papa kinengo (Swahili), pas lisica (Serbian), pating (Tagalog), pèis rato (French), peixe-rato (Portuguese), peje sable (Spanish), peje zorra (Spanish), pejerrabo (Spanish), pesce volpe (Italian), peshkdhelpën (Albanian), pez espada (Spanish), pez palo (Spanish), pichirata (Spanish), pixxivolpi (Maltese), poisson-épée (French), psina lisica (Serbian), qatwa al bahar (Arabic), rabilongo (Portuguese), rabo de zorra (Spanish), rævehaj (Danish), raposa (Spanish), raposa marina (Spanish), raposo (Portuguese), rävhaj (Swedish), rechin-vulpe (Rumanian), renard (French), renard de mers (Creole), renard marin (French), requin renard (French), revaháur (Faroese), revehai (Norwegian), romano (Portuguese), romão (Portuguese), sapan (Turkish), sapan baligi (Turkish), seefuchs (German), singe de mer (French), skylópsaro (Greek), squalo volpe (Italian), tærsker (Danish), te bakoa (Kiribati), te kimoa (Kiribati), thon blanc (French), tiburón zorro (Spanish), tubarão raposo (Portuguese), volpe de mar (Italian), voshaai (Dutch), watwa albahar (Arabic), whip-tailed shark (English), zoro cauda longa (Portuguese), zorro (Spanish), and zorro blanco (Spanish).
Identification: Easily identified by the long tail (caudal fin) that is as long as the rest of the body. Their coloring is brown to bluish gray to black to purplish on the back shading to white below. Their overall shape is spindle-shaped with two dorsal fins, a tiny anal fin, and curved pectoral fins. They have a short snout with a mouth full of small but sharp teeth. The only other similar sharks in California water are the deep-water, big-eye thresher and the pelagic thresher (both generally seen only during warm water years).
A baby thresher taken at the Pacifica Pier
Size: To at least 18.8 feet and possibly 20.9 feet. Most caught from piers are youngsters 6-7 feet in length. The California record fish was a 575 lb 0 oz fish caught off Carlsbad Canyon in 2007.
Range: Circumglobal in warm waters. Found in the eastern Pacific south to Chile and north to Goose Bay, British Columbia, and southeastern Alaska. Common locally from Punta Eugenia, Baja California, to southern California. The majority of threshers caught in California are taken south of Point Conception.
Habitat: Most common in deeper offshore water but young threshers venture into shallower water. Found from the surface down to about 2,300 feet deep. A species increasingly targeted by southern and central California pier rats.
Piers: Most common on oceanfront piers south of Point Conception although some are taken every year from Central Coast piers. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, Oceanside Pier, San Clemente Pier, Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Huntington Beach Pier, Redondo Beach Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Venice Pier, Santa Monica Pier, Malibu Pier, Ventura Pier, Gaviota Pier, and Pismo Beach Pier. Gaviota may be the best pier in the state for threshers; perhaps the nearby waters are a “pupping” area?
Shoreline:Rarely caught from shore unless near deep-water areas.
Boats: A major species for both boaters and kayakers in southern and central California. Live bait is preferred but they aren’t easy to land from a kayak.
A nice thresher taken at the Caucus Pier
Bait and Tackle: Bony fish make up 97% of the thresher’s diet. Mostly these are small, schooling species such as mackerel, jack mackerel and sardines. As a result, the recommended bait is a live whole fish with mackerel and sardines leading the list. A whole squid also makes excellent bait. Anglers specifically fishing for them land the great majority of threshers. Tackle should be heavy and include a net or treble-hook gaff to bring the fish onto the pier. Line should be at least 40-pound test, a wire leader is preferred and hooks can be 4/0 or larger.
Food Value: An excellent, mild-flavored fish with firm texture, large flakes, and white coloring after cooking. It has moderate fat content. Threshers can be prepared many ways but one of the best is to simply cut the meat into steaks and broil them on a grill. The meat does need to be cleaned properly and kept cool before cooking.
Comments: The high demand for thresher steaks, accompanying high prices, over-fishing, and low number of pups birthed each year by females (two to four), have led to a dramatic drop in the thresher population in the last twenty years. Many people feel there should be either a ban or severe limits imposed on the take of threshers.
A thresher taken from the jetty at Half Moon Bay
Hello when you said that Gaviota Pier is a hotspot for threshers did you mean Goleta pier? Ive always heard of them coming from goleta and only a few from Gaviota but that is awesome if its Gaviota!
Gaviota pier has been closed for years goleta pier is were, thrasher are at an a great white shark also was caught year or so ago, witch was released federal protected,
[…] jawbones, and a completely preserved hammerhead’s “head“. Many sharks have been caught on the Santa Monica boardwalks while located beneath the Pier is Heal the Bay Aquarium, previously […]
Imperial Beach pier is a good spot to catch them as well.
As someone who’s spent many mornings on the piers around Monterey, it’s always a thrill to even hear about a thresher being sighted. Your post really highlights how special and rare these encounters are from shore. It’s a good reminder of the incredible marine life just below the surface.
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I feel sorry for the fish, though of course it was a hunter and didn’t spare anyone either.
The article notes thresher sharks are easily identified by a tail as long as the rest of the body—more on thresher sharks.
Thresher sharks are easily identified by a tail that is as long as the rest of their body. Read more here.
The note that females birth only two to four pups a year really stuck with me. That kind of slow reproduction can’t keep up with heavy fishing pressure, especially when demand for thresher steaks stays high. I think stricter limits, not just voluntary release, are overdue in California.
Ken from the UK, I’ve never seen a thresher but the tail is what gets me. Half the body being a whip seems like a strange design for a fish that mostly eats small schooling bait. I’d guess it’s used to stun or herd them rather than just swim, though I could be wrong.
That long tail is really something. I had no idea it could be as long as the rest of the body. The list of names from around the world is interesting too. It’s a bit sad to read about the population drop, but good to know more about them.
A powerful ocean predator with an extraordinary long tail and incredible agility! The Common Thresher Shark is a true marvel of the deep blue sea! ✨
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The thresher’s tail being as long as the rest of its body is such a striking feature. I’d be curious to compare that with this.
The list of names really shows how widespread this shark is, but the detail that stuck with me is only two to four pups per female. That makes the population decline hard to reverse. I think catch limits make sense, especially since most pier catches are juveniles.
The detail about females birthing only two to four pups a year really puts the fishing pressure in perspective. I’ve seen threshers landed at Gaviota and it’s striking how many are small juveniles. If the population has dropped that sharply in twenty years, I think stricter limits on take, especially for pups, seem overdue.