The Whitespotted Wedgefish inhabits coastal and continental shelf waters to depths of 70 m, but typically occurs in depths shallower than 35 m. It attains a maximum size of about 310 cm total length (TL), although it is typically smaller at around 175 cm TL, with males mature at about 150 cm TL (Last et al. 2016). Size at birth is about 60 cm TL. Maximum age for Rhynchobatus spp. in Australia is 5 years (males) and 12 years (females), but these data were not from the largest individuals (White et al. 2014) and are not reliable for the estimation of generation length. This is therefore estimated from the maximum age (19 years) and age at maturity (7 years) taken from the growth curve provided by White et al. (2014) for the Giant Guitarfish (Glaucostegus typus), which gives an estimated generation length of 13 years.

The Smooth Hammerhead is a coastal-pelagic and semi-oceanic species that occurs on the continental shelf, to at least 200 m depth, with large individuals often found over deep reefs on the edge of the shelf (Smale 1991, Ebert et al. 2013). Despite its widespread occurrence, there are only limited published biological data on this species. It attains a maximum size of 370-400 cm total length (TL) (Ebert et al. 2013, Weigmann 2016). Stevens (1984) reported that off the east coast of Australia males mature at about 250-260 cm TL and females at about 265 cm TL with parturition and ovulation occurring between January and March. The gestation period off eastern Australia would appear to be 10-11 months. Castro and Mejuto (1995) reported 21 gravid females with a mean litter size of 33.5 from the waters of western Africa. Off eastern Australia, Stevens (1975) reported litter sizes between 20-49 (mean 32). The sex ratio of embryos is 1:1 (Stevens 1984, Castro and Mejuto 1995). Compagno (1984) and Compagno et al. (2005) gave the size at birth as 50-61 cm. Smale (1991) and Doño (2008) reported juveniles with open umbilical scars from South Africa at sizes between 59 and 63 cm, and from Uruguay between 49 and 55 cm TL, respectively. Although maximum age has yet to be determined for this species, it is thought that the lifespan of the Smooth Hammerhead may be 20 years or longer (FLMNH 2008). Generation length is estimated at 24 years based on that for the Scalloped Hammerhead (S. lewini), which reaches a similar size (Drew et al. 2015).

The Great Hammerhead is a coastal-pelagic and semi-oceanic tropical hammerhead shark occurring close inshore and well offshore, over continental shelves, island terraces, and in passes and lagoons of coral atolls, as well as over deep water near land, at depths ranging from near-surface to over 80 m (Compagno et al. 2005). The maximum total size is 550-610 cm total length (TL) (Weigmann 2016), though 400 cm TL is more common for a mature adult (Compagno et al. 2005, Last and Stevens 1994). Males mature at about 225 to 269 cm TL, and reach at least 341 cm TL, and females mature at about 225 to 300 cm TL and reach 482 to 549 cm TL (Compagno et al. 2005) In the UAE the largest recorded specimen was 3.82 m (Jabado et al. 2016 biological data sharks uae paper). The Great Hammerhead is viviparous, with a yolk-sac placenta. Litter size ranges from 6 to 42 pups after 11 months' gestation (Ebert et al. 2013). Size at birth is 50 to 70 cm TL with females breeding once every two years (Stevens and Lyle 1989). Generation length is estimated at 24-25 years based on Piercy et al. (2010) and Harry et al. (2011).

The Scalloped Hammerhead is a coastal and semi-oceanic pelagic shark, found over continental and insular shelves and in deep water ranging from intertidal areas and the surface to at least 1,000 m depth (Compagno et al. 2005). Horizontal migration is observed from inshore bays to a pelagic habitat as this species grows. It has been observed to be highly faithful to particular diurnal core areas (Holland et al. 1993) and sometimes form large schools which migrate to higher latitudes in summer (Stevens and Lyle 1989). This species segregates by sex, with females migrating offshore earlier and at smaller sizes than males. Adults spend most of the time offshore in midwater and females migrate to the coastal areas to have their pups (Bass et al. 1975, Klimley and Nelson 1984, Branstetter 1987, Klimley 1987, Chen et al. 1988, Stevens and Lyle 1989). Nursery areas are found in shallow inshore waters, while the adults are found offshore (Compagno 1984, Holland et al. 1993, Kotas et al. 1995, Lessa et al. 1998). Neonates and juveniles are known to shoal in confined coastal pupping areas for up to two years before moving out to adult habitat (Holland et al. 1993). The species is viviparous with a yolk-sac placenta. Only the right ovary is functional. In Taiwanese (POC) waters, ovum development takes approximately 10 months and ova reach a maximum diameter of 40-45 mm. The number of oocytes in the ovarium can be as many as 40-50 per female (Chen et al. 1988). The gestation period is around 9-12 months, with birth in spring and summer. The average number of embryos in the uterus ranges from 12-41 and females pup every year. Newborn size ranges from 31-57 cm (Castro 1983, Compagno 1984, Branstetter 1987, Chen et al. 1988, Stevens and Lyle 1989, Chen et al. 1990, Oliveira et al. 1991, 1997, Amorim et al. 1994, White et al. 2008). Maximum size is reported by several studies, 370-420 cm total length (TL) (Ebert et al. 2013) and ranged from 219-340 cm TL for males and 296-346 cm TL for females (Bass et al. 1975b, Schwartz 1983, Klimley and Nelson 1984, Stevens 1984, Branstetter 1987, Chen et al. 1988, Stevens and Lyle 1989, Chen et al. 1990). Males mature between 140-198 cm TL and females at around 200-250 cm TL (Compagno 1984b, Branstetter 1987, Chen et al. 1990, Carrera and Martinez 2007, White et al. 2008). Branstetter's (1987) growth study in the Gulf of Mexico found asymptotic length for both sexes of 329 cm TL and 253 cm fork length (FL), with an index of growth rate of k = 0.073 y^-1. Piercy et al.'s (2007) more recent study used FL rather than TL and suggested faster growth, with asymptotic length of 214.8 cm FL for males and 233.1 cm FL for females, with an index growth rate of k=0.13 year^-1 for males and k=0.09 year^-1 for females. It is unclear whether these differences are related to sample size, methodology or changes resulting from a density-dependent compensatory response to population depletion. The nearest studies on life history traits of this species have been undertaken in the Eastern Indian Ocean. White et al. (2008) estimated females and males to mature at 228.5 cm TL and 175.6 cm TL, respectively. Age at maturity was estimated at 13.2 for females and 8.9 years for males (Drew et al. 2015). Based on these data, generation length was estimated at 24 years.

The Bull Shark occurs in inshore and offshore waters, usually near the bottom, from the surfline to a depth of at least 152 m (Ebert et al. 2013). This species is euryhaline, with nursery areas in rivers, although within the Arabian Seas region, neonates have been recorded in areas without rivers and estuaries (Jabado et al. 2016). It attains a maximum size of about 340 cm total length (TL) with males mature at around 157-226 cm TL and females mature around 180-230 cm TL (Ebert et al. 2013, Jabado et al. 2016, Moore et al. 2012). Females produce litters of 1-13 every second year (Smith 1997) and size at birth is about 55-81 cm TL (Ebert et al. 2013). Ageing data from northern Australia indicate that females mature around 10 years and reach a maximum of at least 27 years (Tillett et al. 2011). Based on these data, generation length is estimated at 18.25 years.

This species occurs in coastal waters on continental and insular shelves. Its maximum size is 165 cm total length (TL) (Weigmann 2016). Females are mature by at least 131 cm TL and demonstrate placental viviparity with litters of 4-6 embryos. In the northwestern Gulf, there is evidence that parturition occurs in spring when embryos are 35-51 cm TL. Further records of the Smoothtooth Blacktip Shark from the western Arabian Sea indicate that adults are present in this region throughout the year.No ageing data are available for the Smoothtooth Blacktip Shark. Generation length is estimated to be 8.25 years based on the Spottail Shark from Australia, which has a similar maximum size. The Spottail Shark matures at 2-3 years and reaches a maximum age of 14 years (Davenport and Stevens 1988).

The Grey Reef Shark is found in clear tropical waters often from 10 m to around 140 m and is common around coral reefs, particularly near drop-offs and fringing reefs. It attains a maximum size of 255 cm total length (TL). Males mature at 110-145 cm TL; females at about 120-142 cm TL (Wetherbee et al. 1997, Ebert et al. 2013) at around seven years. Litters are small with up to six pups measuring 48-49 cm TL (Compagno 1984, Anderson and Ahmed 1993, Last and Stevens 1994, Wetherbee et al. 1997). Smart et al. (2016) provide age data from Australia where the females mature at 9 years and reach a maximum age of at least 15 years. A study conducted on an unfished population of this species reported an estimated length at maturity of 116.7-“123.2 cm TL for males and a maximum lifespan of 18.1 years for both sexes, and an annual survival rate of 0.74 year^-1 (Bradley et al. 2017). When applying an age at first reproduction of 9 years and longevity of 18 years, its estimated generation length is 13.5 years based on the following equation recommended by the IUCN Red List methods: Age at first reproduction + (Age at last reproduction -“ age at first reproduction)/2.

This open-water pelagic and oceanic species inhabits waters between 18-“31'°C and occurs above and below the thermocline to at least 400 m depth. It schools primarily by size, either in monospecific or multi-species groups. Larger fish frequently school with porpoises and are also associated with floating debris and other objects. It feeds on fishes, crustaceans and squids. Maximum fork length is 240 cm. In the Indian Ocean, longevity is 9 years, length at 50% maturity for males and females is 100 cm and age at first maturity is 3-5 years (IOTC 2018). When applying an age at first reproduction of 4 years and longevity of 9 years, its estimated generation length is 6.5 years based on the following equation recommended by the IUCN Red List methods: Age at first reproduction + (Age at last reproduction -“ age at first reproduction)/2.

Whale Sharks are found in both coastal and oceanic habitats (Rowat and Brooks 2012). This species is highly mobile, with mean daily movement rates of 24-“28 km based on tethered geopositioning tags (Hueter et al. 2013). Whale Sharks spend the majority of time in the epipelagic zone, but dive to at least 1,928 m in depth (Tyminsky et al. 2015). Most sightings occur at a small number of known coastal feeding areas for the species, where the sharks aggregate on the surface to exploit seasonal productivity such as fish spawning events or zooplankton blooms (Rowat and Brooks 2012, Robinson et al. 2013). A degree of inter-annual site fidelity has been documented in many locations (Cagua et al. 2015, Norman et al. in press). Sexual- and size-based segregation is typical in these locations, with a bias towards juvenile males from 4-“8 m total length (TL) (Rohner et al. 2015, Norman et al. 2017, Robinson et al. 2016). The largest recorded Whale Sharks are approximately 20 m TL (Chen et al. 1997) and 42 t in mass (Hsu et al. 2014) as reported from Taiwan. An individual extrapolated to be 18.8 m TL was caught in India (Borrell et al. 2011). Estimates of TL at maturity for males vary between 7-9.2 m TL (Norman and Stevens 2007, Ramírez-Macías et al. 2012, Rohner et al. 2015). Size at maturity in females is approximately 9 m TL, based on visual and laser photogrammetric estimates (Acuña-Marrero et al. 2014, Ramírez-Macías et al. 2012). Whale Shark reproductive ecology is poorly known. Pregnant female sharks are seasonally found in the Eastern Pacific, particularly off Darwin Island in the Galapagos Archipelago (Acuña-Marrero et al. 2014) and the Gulf of California (Eckert and Stewart 2001, Ramírez-Macías et al. 2012), but rarely sighted outside this region. The single pregnant female that has been physically examined, from Taiwan, had 304 pups in various stages of development, establishing that this species is lecithotrophic viviparous (Joung et al. 1996, Schmidt et al. 2010). The largest size class of embryos, 58-“64 cm TL, appeared close to fully developed (Joung et al. 1996). Size at birth is presumed to be around that size although a 46 cm TL specimen was the smallest free-swimming neonate found in the Philippines (Aca and Schmidt 2011). Age and growth data on Whale Sharks are sparse. Based on biannual band-pairs, it is estimated that that male sharks begin maturing at ~17 years and females at 19-“22 years in the Indo-Pacific with generation length estimated at 25 years (Hsu et al. 2014).

The Sandbar Shark occurs in coastal, often shallow waters and is associated with sandy or muddy flats, bays, estuaries and harbours (Grubbs et al. 2007). The species also occurs further offshore, particularly on banks, near islands, flat reefs and other topographic features in open waters from the surface to 280 m depth, but is typically found in waters less than 100 m depth (Compagno et al. 2005). It attains a maximum size of at least 240 cm total length (TL) (Ebert et al. 2013). Size at maturity in females ranges from 129-158 cm TL and from 123-156 cm TL in males. This species is viviparous with a yolk sac placenta with a gestation period estimated at 9-12 months (McAuley et al. 2007). Females apparently have young only every two or three years. Litter size is variable and depends in part on the size of the mother, and ranges from 1-10 (Tester 1969, McAuley et al. 2007). Size at birth varies slightly by region but does not follow the same geographic pattern. New born pups range from 40-65 cm TL (Capapé 1984, McAuley et al. 2007).Sandbar Sharks are slow-growing K-selected species (Hoff and Musick 1987, Sminkey and Musick 1995). Wild populations grow very slowly and mature at a relatively late age (Lawler 1976, Casey et al. 1985, Sminkey and Musick 1995). Maturity in these studies was estimated at 13-16 years. The ages at which 50% of female and male sharks were mature was estimated to be 16.2 and 13.8 years, respectively (McAuley et al. 2006) and longevity is 35-41 years (McAuley et al. 2006). In the Tasman Sea, age at maturity for females and males was 9.5 and 7 years, respectively (Geraghty et al. 2015). Generation length is therefore estimated as 28.5 years.