Whitetip Reef Shark Shark Bites

My name's Steve Backshall. Self-confessed shark-obsessed.

This is Shark Bites.

This time we meet a night-time ninja...

..the whitetip reef shark.

Named for the distinctive white tips to its fins,

this is the Jekyll and Hyde of the shark world.

They have a cool and calm character by day,

cruising around coral reefs...

..or lazing on the sandy seabed.

But after dark, they turn...

..into highly honed hunters...

..setting their sights on prey that take cover deep within small

coral caves.

But how do these sharks fit where others can't?

I got a closer look off the coast of Malaysian Borneo.

Lots of lovely sharks around here, just resting on the bottom.

Although most sharks have to keep swimming...

..just to breathe, quite a few, like this whitetip reef shark here...

..can just sit on the bottom and pump water over their gills...

..just resting from the stressful

business of being a shark.

Because after dark is when they really come into their own.

They use the cover of night to scour the reef,

targeting prey like fish, crustaceans and octopus

that are hiding in coral caves.

And it's their perfect proportions

and flexibility that make this possible.

Compared to most sharks,

the body of the whitetip is extremely elongated

and seriously slimline. The first dorsal fin is set further

back on the animal than on most sharks,

and it's so flexible, it can fold completely flat.

This dextrous design enables the shark to cram

its entire body into cracks and crevices in the coral...

..meaning they can specialise in small spaces inaccessible

to their stockier competition...

..and monopolise these hiding places in the reef.

The whitetip shark.

With its perfect probing proportions,

cool and calm character by day and determined

and deadly persona by night, this is truly a night-time ninja.