Mozambique

Mozambique Leopard Shark Research Project

We are documenting the aggregation sites and year-round habitat use of endangered leopard sharks along Mozambique's Inhambane coast, and identifying the areas that most need protection.

164leopard sharks identified along the Inhambane coast, 2011–2025

About 70%of sharks of known sex are female; most are adults or subadults

2016year leopard sharks were listed as globally Endangered

Critically EndangeredIUCN Red List status of the Western Indian Ocean–Southeast Asian subpopulation since 2024

Our project investigates the seasonality, distribution, and habitat use of leopard sharks (Stegostoma tigrinum) in southern Mozambique, with the aim of defining priority areas for their protection.

Leopard sharks, also known as zebra sharks (and formerly classified as Stegostoma fasciatum), are found throughout the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. However, this harmless species is now rare or absent from several reefs it once occupied in parts of Southeast Asia and Indonesia. It is listed as globally Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and the Western Indian Ocean–Southeast Asian subpopulation, which includes Mozambique, was assessed as Critically Endangered in 2024.

Objectives

Expand our monitoring to all the sites where leopard sharks are commonly encountered, exploring new areas in Závora, Morrungulo, Pomene, and the Bazaruto Seascape.
Track leopard shark movements and habitat use throughout the year, and identify their most important habitats along the Inhambane coastline.
Investigate leopard shark genetic connectivity (how much separate populations interbreed) through the Indian Ocean.
Collect samples for biochemical assessment of diet and movement.

A leopard shark swimming in open water, seen from below

What we've done

Compiled the first photo-identification catalog for leopard sharks in southern Africa.
Completed the first focused photo-identification study on leopard sharks in Mozambique.
Identified numerous aggregation sites for leopard sharks throughout Inhambane Province, positioning our team to conduct focused research on the species in Mozambique.
Contributed to the 2024 IUCN Red List reassessment for the leopard shark, a review of the species’ extinction risk, with MMF’s Dr. Chris Rohner and Dr. Stephanie Venables among the assessors.
Began tracking leopard sharks acoustically in the Bazaruto Seascape, adding year-round movement data to more than a decade of diver sightings.
Published a study of leopard sharks in southern Mozambique covering their population structure, spatial ecology, and first observations of courtship behavior (Buschmann et al. 2026).

Support our leopard shark research

Your gift to our Mozambique program funds the fieldwork behind this project, from photo-identification dives to tracking leopard sharks along the Inhambane coast.

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Our work on leopard sharks in Mozambique

Conservation status and threats

In 2016, the leopard shark was reclassified as globally Endangered on the IUCN Red List as a consequence of heavy fishing throughout much of its range. Extensive fishing pressure, coupled with low reproductive rates, has led to steep population declines, and in 2024 the Western Indian Ocean–Southeast Asian subpopulation was assessed as Critically Endangered. Leopard sharks also aggregate in specific areas and, when these are targeted by unsustainable fisheries, local extinctions can follow quickly.

A leopard shark resting on the sand at Julian Rocks, Australia

Knowledge gaps

So far, studies on leopard sharks have mostly focused on Australia and Thailand. The Indian Ocean, and the eastern coast of Africa in particular, has been highlighted as a data-deficient area for the species. The effective management and protection of the remaining populations depend on knowing the distribution and population status of leopard sharks in this region.

Two leopard sharks swimming over a rocky reef

Leopard sharks in Mozambique

Leopard sharks are commonly seen in southern Mozambique, where several aggregation sites occur along the Inhambane coastline. Inshore reefs in this region appear to be important habitats for this bottom-dwelling shark. Until recently, however, few focused studies had characterized local populations or identified their most significant threats in the area. Saoirse Pottie’s 2018 MSc thesis at Swansea University, The distribution and site fidelity of a rare, non-commercial elasmobranch, formed part of this work and was published in 2021 with MMF’s Anna Flam. Interviews with 100 fishers at four locations in Mozambique, combined with sightings from scuba divers, showed that sea surface temperature best predicted where the sharks occur in the coldest months, and distance from shore at other times of year.

A female leopard shark resting on the sand off Bazaruto Island, Mozambique

Fourteen years of photographs

The 2026 study, led by Jule Buschmann of the All Out Africa Marine Research Centre with MMF’s Nilza de Catarina and Anna Flam, drew on 9,219 underwater surveys along the Inhambane coast between 2011 and 2025 and identified 164 leopard sharks from 631 sightings. About 70% of the sharks whose sex could be determined were female, and most were adults or subadults averaging 1.64 m (5.4 ft) long. Only seven were estimated to be under about 1.2 m (3.9 ft), which suggests that juveniles use other habitats, possibly shallow inshore waters farther north, where juvenile-sized sharks have been seen near Vilankulos and Inhassoro.

Sightings were concentrated at a small cluster of reefs north of Tofo, where a population model estimated that about 88 sharks used the reefs over the study period, within a wide uncertainty range of 50 to 154. Three-quarters of the identified sharks were only ever recorded at a single site, and just three moved between Tofo and Morrungulo, about 60 km (37 miles) apart. Sightings peak in the austral summer, when the water on the reefs is warmest and clearest, although the study did not show that temperature or visibility alone drives that pattern.

The study also recorded the first courtship behavior for the species in the western Indian Ocean: three interactions, including a male holding a female’s tail in his mouth for several minutes beneath a rocky overhang at Tofo in October 2022, captured on video. The other two were seen at Tofo in January 2020 and at Morrungulo in November 2021.

Divers matter too. Sharks moved away from divers in 55% of recorded encounters, and the odds of a shark leaving were about 14 times higher when the nearest diver came within 3 m (10 ft) than when divers stayed more than 5 m (16 ft) away, a clear case for minimum approach distances in dive tourism. Mozambique’s national fisheries regulations already protect leopard sharks under 1.5 m (4.9 ft) long; the authors recommended extending that protection to sharks of all sizes, and identified the northern Tofo reefs and possible corridors linking Tofo and Morrungulo as strong candidates for marine protected areas or other spatial management.

Acoustic tracking

Acoustic telemetry (tracking with tags whose sound signals are logged by underwater receivers) now allows us to monitor leopard shark movements and habitat use throughout the year and to identify their most important habitats along the Inhambane coastline. Tagged sharks are detected automatically on our receiver network across the Bazaruto Seascape, and results will be added here once they are published. In parallel, we are investigating the genetic connectivity of leopard sharks across the Indian Ocean and collecting samples for biochemical assessment of their diet and movements.