As of November 2026, the shortfin mako is considered the fastest shark in the world. Scientists think it can swim faster than any other shark or ray, but few direct speed measurements have been reported. A number repeated from a book is not the same as a number taken from the sea. In a 2023 study, tags worn by two free-swimming makos measured their swimming speed directly, which gave researchers a measurement instead of an estimate. A shortfin mako keeps its body warmer than the water around it, because a web of blood vessels holds in the heat, and a 2015 study of tracked fishes found that those that warm their core swim about two and a half times faster than those that do not, and about twice as far.

The cruising result came first, and the burst result second. The two makos cruised at an average speed of 0.90 metres per second, which is slightly less than one metre every second, and their tails beat about once every two seconds, since the mean tail-beat frequency was 0.51 Hz. The fastest burst the tags recorded was 5.02 metres per second, from a female mako 2 metres long, and at that burst the tail-beat frequency was 3.65 Hz. The tags also recorded a burst that lasted 14 seconds, at an average speed of 2.38 metres per second. The highest mako burst speed recorded was among the highest ever directly measured in sharks, tunas and billfishes, although it came from only two sharks. These are the speeds the tags actually recorded, and they describe two individual sharks rather than every mako.

Those results fit a wider pattern. The study found that makos generally cruise at speeds similar to other warm-bodied fish, and faster than sharks that do not warm their bodies. In a 2015 study, the cruising speeds and yearly migration ranges of fishes with warm red muscle were 2 to 3 times greater than for fishes without it. Speed has a cost, however. Researchers estimated that a mako uses 185.2 milligrams of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per hour at 18 degrees Celsius, and the 2015 study estimated that the cost of transport for fishes with warm red muscle is twice that of fishes without it. Gliding was seen more often after periods of high activity, which suggests it helps a mako recover energy and limits extra body heat.

The sea a mako swims in matters too. Makos spend most of their time in the mixed layer of the ocean, with few trips below the thermocline. Makos in a New Zealand study made frequent dives between the surface and 300 to 400 metres, reaching 515 and 605 metres, but spent most of their time shallower than 100 metres. In the Atlantic, makos were seen in water ranging from 5.2 to 31.7 degrees Celsius, but mainly at 22 to 27 degrees. The authors of the 2023 study note that the mako shark's performance needs a lot of oxygen, so it may be vulnerable to habitat loss from climate-driven ocean deoxygenation.

Words to know

• burst: quick sprint
• cruising: steady swimming
• oxygen: breathing gas
• deoxygenation: oxygen loss