Max weight: 900 lbs.
Water temp 58-75 degrees.

There are 2 other species of threshers.  They do not enter the New England area. 
They are:
the big eye thresher, Alopias superciliosus, which gets up north as close as Montauk, New York. 
The pelagic thresher, Alopias pelagicus,  which is not in the Atlantic Ocean. 

The thresher is one of a few species considered to be warm-bodied. Being warm- bodied usually translates into being more energetic 
in cooler water than the cold blooded shark species.  

The upper lobe of the tail is almost as long as the body section.   This characteristic makes it very easy to separate the threshers from other shark species.

Thresher Alopias vulpinus  
IGFA Record - 767 lbs. (A. vulpinus)
Maine record - 628 Lbs (A. vulpinus)
Massachusetts record - 548 lbs (A. vulpinus) 

      Range of the Thresher,  Alopias vulpinus

The thresher gets its name from its abnormally long tail that it uses to strike or thresh fish.  They also can strike fishermen with that tail.  So be careful.  

This bizarre shark is a visitor to our area although in very small numbers on the north side of Cape Cod.  

South of Martha's Vineyard seems to be an area with many threshers. 

Threshers are very fast and occasionally  jump clear out of the water when hooked, or when free swimming.  They also wallop a hook bait with their tail and get tail hooked.  A common occurrence with longliners.

Capt. Bill Brown (on the rt.) BillFish Charters Watch Hill, R.I.   with a 526 lb. thresher.

For charter info. Capt. Bill Brown can be reached at : 860-741-3301

(Capt. Bill won the Oak Bluffs 2003 shark tournament with a   506 lb Thresher Shark – which was at that time a Mass. State record . )

In the 2004 OB derby a new Mass. State record  548 LB thresher was  taken aboard the Cookie Too.