How can a sharks gender be identified?
Sexing: Sexing sharks is a relatively simple task. Male sharks have elongated edges to their pelvic fins that roll up forming sausage-like protrusions called claspers -- or more accurately, myxopterygia (pronounced: mix-op-ter-ridge-ee-a) as they are not actually used for clasping the female -- the front opening of which is the apopyle and the rear opening (as it is a tube) the rhipidion. The claspers are intromittant organs that are used to transfer sperm from the male's ductus deferens to the female's uterus. Some species have small hooks and a spur on the clasper to keep it in place during sperm transfer. Female elasmobranchs don't have claspers, only the opening into which the clasper fits and the waste products exit (called the cloaca - pronounced clow-ache-kah). Females generally grow to larger sizes than males of the same species and some species exhibit sexual segregation for much of the year. (Back to Menu)