Genetic analyses have revealed substantial variation within this species, with populations from the western Atlantic Ocean isolated and distinct from those in the rest of its range.

The blacktip shark has a stout, fusiform body with a pointed snout, long gill slits, and no ridge between the dorsal fins.

Swift, energetic piscivores, blacktip sharks are known to make spinning leaps out of the water while attacking schools of small fish.

Normally wary of humans, blacktip sharks can become aggressive in the presence of food and have been responsible for a number of attacks on people.

This species is of importance to both commercial and recreational fisheries across many parts of its range, with its meat, skin, fins, and liver oil used.

The blacktip shark was first described by French zoologist Achille Valenciennes as Carcharias (Prionodon) limbatus in Johannes Müller and Friedrich Henle's 1839 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen.

However, this interpretation has not been borne out by studies of mitochondrial and ribosomal DNA, which instead suggest affinity with the blacknose shark (C. acronotus).

Blacktip sharks from these two regions differ in morphology, coloration, and life history characteristics, and the eastern Atlantic lineage may merit species status.

[8] Fossil teeth belonging to this species have been found in Early Miocene (23–16 Ma) deposits in Delaware and Florida.

[9][10] The blacktip shark has a robust, streamlined body with a long, pointed snout and relatively small eyes.

In the western Pacific, it is found from the Ryukyu Islands of Japan[12] to northern Australia, including southern China, the Philippines and Indonesia.

It has also been reported at a number of Pacific islands, including New Caledonia, Tahiti, the Marquesas, Hawaii, Revillagigedo, and the Galápagos.

[6] Favored habitats are muddy bays, island lagoons, and the drop-offs near coral reefs; they are also tolerant of low salinity and enter estuaries and mangrove swamps.

[3] In Terra Ceia Bay, Florida, a nursery area for this species, juvenile blacktips form aggregations during the day and disperse at night.

[14] Predator avoidance may also be the reason why juvenile blacktips do not congregate in the areas of highest prey density in the bay.

Some of these jumps are the end product of feeding runs, in which the shark corkscrews vertically through schools of small fish and its momentum launches it into the air.

[22] A wide variety of fish have been recorded as prey for this species: sardines, menhaden, herring, anchovies, ladyfish, sea catfish, cornetfish, flatfish, threadfins, mullet, mackerel, jacks, groupers, snook, porgies, mojarras, emperors, grunts, butterfish, croakers, soles, tilapia, triggerfish, boxfish, and porcupinefish.

[22] The excitability and sociability of blacktip sharks makes them prone to feeding frenzies when large quantities of food are suddenly available, such as when fishing vessels dump their refuse overboard.

Females typically give birth to four to seven (range one to 10) pups every other year, making use of shallow coastal nurseries that offer plentiful food and fewer predators.

[25][26] Although adult blacktip sharks are highly mobile and disperse over long distances, they are philopatric and return to their original nursery areas to give birth.

[25][27] Mating occurs from spring to early summer, and the young are born around the same time the following year after a gestation period of 10–12 months.

Along with an earlier case of parthenogenesis in the bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo), this event suggests that asexual reproduction may be more widespread in sharks than previously thought.