 The common thresher is migratory, moving to higher latitudes following warm water masses. In the eastern Pacific, males travel further than females, reaching as far as Vancouver Island in the late summer and early fall. Juveniles tend to remain in warm nursery areas. There appear to be separate populations with different life history characteristics in the eastern Pacific and western Indian Ocean and possibly elsewhere; this species is not known to make transoceanic movements. In the northwestern Indian Ocean, males and females segregate by location and depth during the pupping season from January to May. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA has revealed substantial regional genetic variation within common threshers in all three oceans. This could support the idea that, despite being high mobile, sharks from different areas rarely interbreed.
