Lemon sharks are part of a group called requiem sharks, the most abundant of the sharks and named for their tendency to school near the surface. The group also includes tiger sharks and bull sharks. Although most active around twilight and dawn, lemon sharks hunt throughout the day, feeding mainly on rays, reef fish and crustaceans. They seem to prefer reefs with mangrove and sea grass habitats. In these protected areas, females will give birth to as many as 17 live young, about 2 feet in length.
Lemon sharks are most common along the coasts of Latin America and the Caribbean.
However, owing to the animal's large migratory range, it has been spotted as far north as New Jersey and as far south as the southern end of Brazil. Gruber believes that lemon sharks, like salmon, tend to return to their birthplace to mate and give birth. If the sharks indeed return home year after year to mate among their siblings and cousins, that would mean lots of inbreeding. As the tide falls, the sharks look for a way out of the atoll and swim into the net researchers have stretched across its entrance. ABC News Internet Ventures.