Shark Awareness Day 2026

 

​For Shark Awareness Day 2026, the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group (SSG) is featuring numbfishes, the overlooked electric rays in the family Narcinidae.

This toolkit provides suggested messaging, hashtags, visual assets, and crediting guidance to help SSG members and partners share coordinated posts.

The following illustrated social media assets were created for Shark Awareness Day 2026. These assets may be shared by SSG members and partners, provided the following credit is included: © IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group and Eloisa Pinheiro​.

The sample photos may be used, ensured that the credits in the file name are included.
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Please do not crop out logos, credits, or species names.

MEDIA TOOLKIT

EN

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ILLUSTRATIONS

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PHOTOS

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Images and Captions for Media Use

Below are low/medium resolution photos for use by media if appropriately credited.

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Sharks

Research on chondrichthyans, including this Critically Endangered Northern River Shark (Glyphis garricki), is providing information for management and recovery of threatened species. Photo Credit: Grant Johnson.

The Critically Endangered Angel Shark (Squatina squatina) has almost disappeared from European waters and can now only be found with any regularity in the Canary Islands. It was formerly a common and important bottom-dwelling predator over large areas of its coastal and outer continental shelf sediment habitat in the Northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Seas. Most of this region is now subject to intense demersal fisheries, and the species is highly vulnerable (from birth onwards) to bycatch in the benthic trawls, set nets and bottom longlines operating through most of its range and habitat. Photo Credit: Tony Gilbert.

The Great Hammerhead Shark (Sphryna mokarran) is a large, widely distributed, tropical shark largely restricted to continental shelves that is listed as Critically Endangered. It is highly valued for its fins (in target and incidental fisheries), suffers very high bycatch mortality and only reproduces once every two years, making it vulnerable to overexploitation and population depletion. Photo Credit: Neil Hammerschlag.

The Pelagic Thresher Shark (Alopias pelagicus), at Monad Shoal, near Malapascua Island in the Visayan Sea of the central Philippines. This species is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Photo credit: Bo Mancao.

The Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus) from Sipadan Island, Borneo, Indonesia is listed as Vulnerable by IUCN. Photo Credit: Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO.

The Port Jackson Shark (Heterodontus portusjacksoni) from Perth, Western Australia s listed as Least Concern by IUCN. Photo Credit: Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO.

Daily shark landings being auctioned at Tanjung Luar, Lombok. Photo Credit: Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO.

Shark trunks being weighed and logged at Muara Baru, Jakarta. Photo Credit: Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO.

Deepwater shark and ray catch at Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia. Deepwater sharks and rays are increasingly threatened as fisheries deplete the shallow coastal seas and move into deeper waters. Photo Credit: Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO.

Thresher Shark fins at processing centre at Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia. One species is Endangered and the other two Thresher Shark species are listed as Vulnerable by IUCN. Photo Credit: Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO.

Blue Shark. Credit: Hannes Klostermann | Ocean Image Bank

Sand Tiger Shark. Credit: Jayne Jenkins | Ocean Image Bank

Whale Shark. Credit: Dani Escayola | Ocean Image Bank

White Shark. Credit: Balazs Fodor | Ocean Image Bank

Basking Shark. Credit: Larsvon Ritter Zahony | Ocean Image Bank

Epaulette Shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum). Credit: Dr Melissa Staines | iNaturalist.org | CC BY-NC

Ornate Wobbegong (Orectolobus ornatus). Credit: Emma Sophie | iNaturalist.org | CC-BY

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Rays

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Chimaeras