Whitetip Reef Sharks are closely associated with coral reefs in clear, tropical waters. Primarily nocturnal, they shelter in caves by day, often communally. They often return to a home cave for periods of days, weeks or more (Randall 1977). Active at night, they hunt fish and other prey, often in caves and crevices. Maturity is attained at about 105 cm, although a mature male of 95 cm and a pregnant female of 102 cm have been recorded in the Maldives (Anderson and Ahmed 1993). Mating has been recorded in the wild by Tricas and Le Feuvre (1985) and pups are born at 52?60 cm after a gestation period of at least five months. Litter size has been recorded as 2?3 in Madagascar (Fourmanoir 1961, Last and Stevens 1994) and 1?5 elsewhere (Randall 1977, Last and Stevens 1994).

Growth is slow in the wild, estimated at 2.1?4.2 cm year^-1 (Randall 1977), and they may attain sexual maturity at eight to nine years and live to about 16 years (Randall 1977, Smith et al. 1998). Maximum size is around 200 cm TL but adults are very rare over 160 cm (Compagno in prep. b).