Salmon Shark Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Thick, powerfully built, torpedo-shaped body built for speed
• Dark gray to nearly black dorsal coloration with a mottled dark and white pattern on the belly, unlike a clean white underside
• Conical, pointed snout and large black eyes
• Crescent-shaped caudal fin with lobes of nearly equal size
• A secondary smaller keel below the main lateral keel on the caudal peduncle, a trait shared with few other sharks

Common look-alikes

• Porbeagle: very similar body shape but usually has a clean white belly and a distinct white patch at the rear base of the first dorsal fin, which Salmon Sharks lack or show only faintly
• Great white shark: larger overall, has a more triangular snout, and lacks the secondary keel on the tail base
• Shortfin mako: more slender build, brighter blue-gray coloration, and no secondary keel

Where you'll see one

Salmon Sharks live in cold, temperate to subarctic waters of the North Pacific, ranging from California and Japan up into the Bering Sea, often following seasonal salmon migrations near the surface and at depth.

Their combination of a mottled belly and the unusual double keel at the tail base is the most dependable way to separate them from the closely related Porbeagle and other mackerel sharks.