Review and images by callmejoe3; edited by bmathison1972
Among the various impressive macropredators in the ocean, the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), is among the most powerful and strangest. The tiger shark belongs to the Carcharhinidae family, often referred to as the “requiem sharks”. The Galeocerdo genus was once diverse, but the tiger shark remains the only extant species within this clade. Tiger sharks are distributed across most of the tropical and subtropical waters of the world except for the Mediterranean. Recent population genetic studies suggest there’s differentiation between tiger sharks from the western Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Ocean basins and that tiger sharks possess a matrilineal population structure, implying female philopatry and sex-biased dispersal. Tiger sharks typically range from 3.25-4.25 meters in length and 385-635 kilograms in mass, with the largest individuals achieving up to 5.5 meters and 900 kilograms. Females are generally larger than males. They are one of the largest extant predatory sharks, second only to the great white. Tiger sharks are specifically well known for their highly varied diet that includes fish, crustaceans, dolphins, pinnipeds, dugongs, rays, other sharks, and a preference for sea turtles. Cannibalism is also well documented in tiger sharks. Their diets extend further into the bizarre territory, as stomach contents have been known to contain terrestrial animals that venture the shoreline such as horses, sheep, goats, dogs, cats. Inanimate objects are also often recovered such as license plates, tires, oil cans, and baseballs. After great whites, tiger sharks have the highest reported fatal attacks on humans, thought these fatality ratings remain low. Due to overfishing from the finning industry, tiger sharks are considered a “Near threatened” by the IUCN. While technically apex predators of their ecosystems, they are indeed preyed upon by killer whales.
In 1990, Safari Ltd collaborated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium and produced a marine life toy line from their combined resources. These figures were among the highest quality of their time with many specimens still touted as some of the best replicas of their respective species. In 1993, Safari Ltd manufactured the tiger shark for the MBA line and released a newer figure for their Wild Safari Sealife line in 2015. With the latter already having been reviewed, it is time to assess the MBA tiger shark. The MBA tiger shark is 200 mm in length, about 60 mm longer than the Wild Safari figure. The intended scale was likely 1:20 like most of the other sharks in this line, making this individual scale to a 4m/13ft individual, an average size.
The shark is painted dark gray on top, creating a gradient towards medium gray and then immediately transitions to white for the underbelly. The stripes are nearly black. The colors used here are fair enough for a tiger shark, however there are some issues regarding the stripes. A tiger shark’s stripes are most pronounced as juveniles, and they fade away as the shark matures. While the stripes on the MBA figure are a marginally less contrasting than the Wild Safari tiger shark, this could have still been more realistic. Furthermore, the stripes are too reminiscent of an actual tiger rather than those of a tiger shark, which are more numerous and include more spots in addition to stripes. Other than that, this figure’s paintjob is quite nice.
Despite being the older figure, the sculpt appears to be better than the 2015 Wild Safari tiger shark. The pectoral fins are longer and narrower than on the 2015 figure. And more importantly, the MBA tiger shark has all five gill slits sculpted in, as opposed to the 4 on the younger figure. The snout is appropriately broad, and there are no claspers on the figure, indicating that this as a female tiger shark. Two rows of 13 and 11 teeth were sculpted on the upper and lower jaws, respectively. A real tiger shark has 24 on both jaws. Compared to the other attempts in capturing the mouth anatomy in their replicas, the results here are respectable. A few nitpicks I have is that the eyes are just a little too anterior and that caudal fin is too long. Overall, the MBA figure’s sculpt is well done, especially for a figure manufactured in 1993.
Overall, I would say that the Monterey Bay Aquarium tiger shark has aged well and remains more accurate than the Wild Safari tiger shark. I would sooner recommend someone the CollectA tiger shark, as that one appears to be the more realistic one. Nonetheless, for those specifically aiming to collect the Monterey Bay line, this tiger shark is genuinely nice to have on its own merits. While this figure is not available to purchase from Safari Ltd’s site, its prevalence on other online retailers leads me to conclude it is still in production.
Certainly still the best! The collectA one has a really small tail fin in proportion to the body and it has one 4 gill slits on both sides
I agree. I went with the Wild Safari figure more because of size considerations, but this has the better sculpt and paint. Kaiyodo did a really nice one for their Capsule Q Animatales line, but being a gashapon figure, it is quite small 🙂
Admittedly I didn’t notice that. I guess I didn’t take the time to notice because I wouldn’t expect TWO companies to get such an easy detail wrong.
I like the size of the Monterey Bay tiger shark and the sculpt is good but I feel the paint could be better. The base grey is too dark and as a result the black stripes are barely visible, on my model at least. I plan to repaint it someday.
There is room for a better tiger shark figure to be made.
Yeah, that’s the truth.
Papo? 🙂