Which sharks are the fastest?

Sleek with their aerodynamic fins and powerful tails, sharks seem honed for top speeds. Their skin has inspired high-performance swimwear for top athletes and prompted ideas about more efficient aircraft engineering.

The shortfin mako shark is famed as the fastest shark in the sea. Reports of mako sharks keeping pace with boats cruising up to 70 kph (43.5 mph) abound on the internet; even National Geographic posits a top speed of 56 kph (35 mph). Although a wild shortfin mako shark hasn’t been scientifically recorded swimming at 70 kph, scientists do have speed estimates for the mako and other species – whether they’re racing after prey over short distances, breaching clear of the water or cruising long distances across the open ocean. And it’s all still pretty impressive!

HOW FAST ARE SHARKS?

Shark speed is measured in various ways. Scientists collect data on why sharks move in the water (Is a shark cruising, hunting, migrating long distances or accelerating over a short distance?), how they move (Are they swimming horizontally? Do they dive up and down, moving vertically as much as they propel themselves forward?) and whether they exit the water (Is the shark breaching?).

They can count the frequency of tail beats or the speed of tail strikes, and the units might be measured in miles per hour or metres per second. Because there are so many different species of shark, each fulfilling different niches in the ocean, there is no easy way to compare shark speeds.

But as technology has improved, scientists have been able to estimate the speed of several shark species performing different functions (cruising, breaching, tail slaps).

Shark cruising and burst (rapid acceleration) speeds are all reported widely and differently across the internet and in books; however, the only correct way to compare the fastest sharks currently comes from compilations of direct measurements of the average cruising speeds in wild sharks. Some are measured using acoustic tracking (a function of distance travelled over time, logged on an acoustic receiver from a tag deployed on an animal) and others using speed sensors called bio-loggers (a propeller attached to the animal’s dorsal fin that logs relative swim speed as the number of rotations of the propeller at one-second intervals). Scientists agree that the latter method is probably the most accurate means we have to estimate the actual speed of sharks and account for the way they swim through water.

Cruising speed represents the average speed that sharks are swimming at in the water. Sometimes this is horizontal swimming, but often sharks combine vertical and horizontal movement in the water column; this is very typical of pelagic sharks, like the shortfin mako shark.

THE 10 FASTEST SHARKS

1. Shortfin mako shark – 6.7 kph (4.2 mph)
2. Salmon shark – 3.9 kph (2.4 mph)
3. Basking shark – 3.9 kph (2.4 (mph)
4. White shark – 3.5 kph (2.2 mph)
5. Tiger shark – 3 kph (1.8 mph)
6. Whale shark – 3 kph (1.8 mph)
7. Great hammerhead shark – 2.8 kph (1.7 mph)
8. Oceanic white tip shark – 2.7 kph (1.6 mph)
9. Lemon shark – 2.3 kph (1.4 mph)
10. Scalloped hammerhead shark – 2.16 kph (1.3 mph)

DOES SHARK SIZE DETERMINE SPEED?

In brief, yes. Body size is not more important than regional endothermy (some shark species can raise their body temperature up to 10˚C higher than the surrounding ocean temperature, which allows them to reach higher speeds), but all other things being equal, larger animals swim faster at cruising rates (not burst speeds).

That’s how a whale shark or a basking shark can still achieve fast cruising speeds, even though they are filter feeders and are unlikely to be zooming after high-speed prey.

The family of sharks known as the Lamnidae, which are the fastest sharks in our oceans, are also generally large sharks. So too are other speedy species and powerful swimmers, like the great hammerhead shark, bull shark, grey reef shark and tiger shark. Scientists have generally agreed that for fish, body size, body shape and habitat are the key determinants of cruising speed – the speed at which fish (in this case, specifically sharks) most commonly swim when not hunting or breaching.

MAXIMUM (AND MINIMUM) SHARK SPEEDS:

1. Top burst speed = the shortfin mako shark reaches up to 18 kph (11 mph) in short bursts (recorded as 5.02 m/s, or 16.47 ft/s, by bio-loggers attached to shortfin mako sharks). Bursts are only maintained over short distances (in this case, a 2-metre, or 6.5-foot, female shortfin mako shark kept that speed up for 14 seconds!)
2. Top cruise speed = the shortfin mako shark was measured cruising at 6.7 kph (4.1 mph).
3. Top breaching speed = the white shark is renowned for its power and speed and was measured breaching at 4.8 m/s (15.7 ft/s), but the filter-feeding basking shark (5 m/s, or 16.4 ft/s) astounded scientists by showing breaching speeds comparable to those of mackerel sharks. Breaches are fast, powerful ascents through the water and into the air, clear of the water column. Scientists therefore measure these speed records in metres per second. The types of measures aren’t strictly comparable; however, for the sake of understanding, white sharks would be breaching at 17 kph (10 mph) and basking sharks at 18 kph (11 mph).
4. Slowest speed = the Greenland shark conserves energy at 0.34 m/s (1.3 kph) in frigid Arctic waters.
5. Fastest tail strike = the thresher shark (0.39 s) strikes at prey using its long tail.

DO DEEP-SEA SHARKS SWIM FAST?

The speed at which sharks swim also relies on where they live and what they’re doing. Lamnid sharks tend to be coastal-dwelling and cruise the pelagic (open ocean) zone. Here, sharks need to be fast to keep up with swift prey that are in constant motion and often only fleetingly passing by, rather than taking up residence on a reef, sheltering in sea grass or relying on camouflage in a kelp forest. Actively hunting, searching and moving requires the energy efficiency that the sharks’ various features, from dermal denticles to aerodynamic bodies, afford. But where other environmental constraints become limiting, the need for speed changes.

In the deep sea, where sharks are subject to high pressure, low temperatures, low oxygen concentrations and darkness, they are generally slow-moving to conserve energy. Indeed, arguably one of the slowest sharks in the sea is the deep-dwelling Greenland shark, which inhabits frigid Arctic waters. Researchers have found that its swim speed and tail-beat frequency are the slowest in the ocean for sharks of its size class.

However, there’s a strange paradox: Greenland sharks eat seals. How then are such slow sharks able to hunt seals (whose swim speeds exceed those even of the Greenland sharks’ burst swimming acceleration speeds)? Measuring these sharks’ swim speeds led the scientists to hypothesise that Greenland sharks must surprise their sleeping prey, given that Arctic seals sleep in the water to avoid predation by polar bears if they nap on the ice or on land. However, one study found that some deep-sea shark species in New Zealand could cruise at speeds comparable to benthic (bottom-dwelling) coastal and shallow-water sharks (albeit, not close to the pelagic-dwellers like thresher and mako sharks).

The researchers suggested that lanternsharks might have evolved these higher cruise speeds because, as luminous sharks, they follow isolumes (a preferred light zone) so that the intensity of light from their ventral (bottom) body side is matched to the down-welling light in their environment. This is to achieve camouflage through counter-illumination.

WHAT MAKES SHARKS SWIM SO FAST?

If you were to look at shark skin under a microscope, you’d notice an interlocking pattern of tooth-like plates. This is one of the secrets to sharks’ success as some of the fastest, most efficient swimmers in the sea. Scientists have found that these scales, dubbed dermal denticles, decrease drag and increase lift, an adaptation that makes sharks not only fast, but also energy efficient. The structure of shark skin is inspiring biomimicry (using ideas from nature to innovate human designs and technology) as the basis for new wind turbine, aeroplane and drone designs.

WHAT ARE THE FASTEST SHARKS IN THE WORLD?

The distinction of fastest sharks in the world goes to the lamnid (or mackerel) sharks (family Lamnidae). Sometimes called isurids, the mackerel shark family is made up of only five species: the shortfin and longfin mako, white, salmon and porbeagle sharks. These amazing speedsters do three things quite differently from the rest of their shark kin to get them to top speeds. The most remarkable of these is that they can raise their body temperature up to 10˚C (50˚F) higher than the surrounding ocean temperature, a feat called regional endothermy. Whereas most fish (and sharks) are ectotherms (relying on their environment to maintain their body temperature), the mackerel sharks overcome their ectothermic limitations using a circulatory system that enables them to raise and maintain heat inside their bodies. In one study, researchers recorded a deep-muscle tissue temperature of 26˚C (78.8˚F) in a salmon shark that was swimming in sub-Arctic waters of 6˚C (42.8˚F).

The mackerel sharks tend to be large-bodied and their shape is adapted for speed; they have long, conical snouts and a streamlined trunk with a small second dorsal fin. They also have very large gills, to make gas exchange more efficient, and powerful tails that are strongly driven by muscles.

Thresher sharks, which belong to a different family (Alopidae), have also adapted to use regional endothermy.

WHAT IS THE FASTEST KNOWN SHARK?

The award for fastest shark in the world goes to the shortfin mako shark. Shortfin mako sharks are classified as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species list. The greatest threat to them is that they are caught as both target and bycatch (incidental catch).

In 2023, scientist Matt Waller and his colleagues used bio-loggers attached to mako sharks to measure direct speed and found that their sustained cruising speed was 3.24 kph (2 mph) and the maximum burst speed was 18 kph (11 mph). The study concluded that shortfin mako sharks probably cruise at similar speeds to endothermic fish and faster than other ectothermic sharks, and the maximum burst speed was the highest measured among sharks, tuna and billfish. Another study showed that shortfin mako sharks clock an average horizontal speed of 2.3 kph (1.4 mph), but that increased to 6.7 kph (4.2 mph) when they measured combined horizontal and vertical speed. Looking only at horizontal speed may actually underestimate shark speed, as sharks typically move vertically in the water column too. And so, for a pelagic shark like the shortfin mako, which is expected to make frequent dives up and down in the open ocean, this combined measured speed of 6.7 kph makes the most ecological sense.

As part of the mackerel shark family, the shortfin mako has all the adaptations that make its kin so fast – but researchers have shown that this species has an even higher overall metabolic rate compared to other sharks of its size. Shortfin makos are what scientists call obligate ram ventilators; they must move to breathe. This means that to swim continuously, and at high speeds, these sharks need to be energy efficient. With higher measures of certain metabolic rates, shortfin mako sharks have increased aerobic swimming performance capacity. That is, their oxygen consumption while swimming is more efficient than that of most other species because they have some of the highest oxygen demands of all sharks in the sea.

WHY IS THE MAKO SHARK SO FAST?

Shortfin mako sharks must be faster than their prey: tuna, billfish and mackerel. These are all fast fish, but none so fast as the Olympian of the fish world: tuna. In a fascinating turn of evolution, lamnid sharks like makos and tuna species have developed such similar features that at least one scientific paper has suggested that they appear more similar to one another than to other species in their own groups! Tuna and mako sharks share aerodynamic body shapes, regional endothermy and energy in their powerful tail muscles; all features that help them reach top speeds in the ocean. This is interesting because sharks and fish diverged more than 400 million years ago, but features such as a streamlined body, regional endothermy and muscle positioning to optimise a strong tail action could only have evolved about 40–60 million years ago. Certainly, the shortfin mako shark would need to be the fastest fish in the sea to catch its tuna prey.

Predatory and nomadic sharks tend to need to be fast and efficient swimmers in order to outpace their prey and to cover long distances with economy for their energy. White sharks, for instance, are large and powerful lamnid sharks capable of chasing other sharks, seals, fish and dolphins. Large white sharks have been tracked travelling great distances across ocean basins and in parts of their range they can breach out of the water to hunt seals.

Great hammerhead sharks are ocean nomads, migrating seasonally and able to travel huge distances. They are considered highly active hunters. These sharks are large, with prominent dorsal and pectoral fins and a powerful, curved tail. These traits help make great hammerheads fast, efficient swimmers capable of cruising long distances and chasing down their prey.

There are three species of thresher shark that, while not lamnid sharks, also evolved regional endothermy. These sharks are considered fast too, capable of swift movements to corral fish and use their long tail to stun their prey. In one study of pelagic thresher sharks, the speed of the tip of the thresher shark’s tail during a strike exceeded the camera’s capacity to record it.

FIVE FASTEST FISH PREY

1. Atlantic bluefin tuna – 7.2 kph (4.5 mph)
2. Pacific bluefin tuna – 4.9 kph (3 mph)
3. Yellowfin tuna – 4.5 kph (2.8 mph)
4. Chinese sturgeon – 4 kph (2.5 mph)
5. Striped marlin – 2.9 kph (1.8 mph)