Blacktip reef shark is about 1.48× longer by these reference values.
Blacktip reef shark uses a 1.8 m upper reference, compared with 1.22 m for Horn shark. Blacktip reef shark's weight reference is about 2.4× heavier.
ON THE SAME SCALE
Human. Bus. Whale.
Pick your reference.
Length bars use upper comparison values and do not show body depth, tail proportion or typical adult size. A long thresher tail, for example, does not equal whale-shark body mass.
THE NUMBERS
Side by side.
WHAT THE DATA CAN SAY
Size is not the whole animal.
Length and weight
Blacktip reef shark is represented by recorded to 1.8 m / 5.9 ft; Horn shark by reported to 1.22 m / 4 ft. Most individuals are under 1.6 m. Weight is a rounded adult reference.
Bite evidence
Blacktip reef shark: No standardized maximum is used. Horn shark: Experiments also measured bites; the displayed range is the study's theoretical maximum from front to rear teeth.
Living versus extinct
Both species are living, but record-sized individuals are rare. These upper references should not be read as normal adult size.
Ecology changes the matchup
It is far smaller than the offshore giants people often picture. Its rear teeth crush hard prey, and its bite mechanics have been tested directly and modeled.
TRACE THE CLAIMS