For clarification, you meant Common Blacktip and not Blacktip Reef Shark (C. melanopterus) for this entry? Just double checking since they are similar names and Blacktip Reef is far more common.
Ok, so I saw your reply and decided to review my pictures and notes. Turns out I have been screwed over by bad aquarium signage once again (and also confused the two species). I may have actually observed
C. melanopterus and NOT
C. limbatus).
So here's what happened: the Blacktips I observed where in their Ocean Realm exhibit, where there is no signage of them. However, they do have
C. limbatus signed in their Shark Realm exhibit. I had no reason to believe at the time that the signage was in error because the range map used is definitely for
C. limbatus (as it includes the Atlantic Ocean where
C. melanopterus is absent), the fun fact even lampshades where the scientific name came from. See below for what I am talking about, and the aquarium had a heap of species that were in tanks other than where they were actually signed.
i
I also assumed the two species would be similar in appearance so I went with what was signed. But when I went back and reviewed, I saw the visual differences between the 2 species is actually more pronounced than I thought. Here is a picture of what I actually saw.
So through a combination of my own mistake and the Aquarium signage likely being incorrect (either that or they actually do have
C. limbatus off-exhibit since all I remember seeing are Sand Tigers, Nurse, and Sandbar sharks in the Shark Realm exhibit), I conclude that I more likely observed
C. melanopterus.
Do the admins allow us to go back and edits posts? Because I now also have a big error in my species list thread.
