Photo by @BrianSkerry. Portrait of an Oceanic Whitetip Shark in The Bahamas. Oceanic Whitetip populations have been decimated due to the demand for their fins, which are prized for shark fin soup. Because of this, their numbers have declined 93% between 1995 and 2010. Recovery will be difficult, because they reach sexual maturity only by age 7 and have small litters of pups every one to two years. They have been sculpted by eons of evolution to function perfectly in the open-ocean, possessing wing-like pectoral fins that allow them to glide over long distances expending little energy. Seeing an animal like this within its natural element is extraordinary. Currently an estimated 100 million sharks are killed annually worldwide. Will the Oceanic Whitetip survive? And what happens to the health of the ocean if we continue to lose sharks? To learn more about sharks, check out the 3 features stories this summer in National Geographic Magazine (@natgeo) - June is Tiger Sharks, July is Great White Sharks and August is Oceanic Whitetip Sharks. And to see more photos and read the stories behind the pictures, follow @BrianSkerry on Instagram. @thephotosociety @natgeocreative #oceanic #whitetip #shark #save #sharks #ancient #predator #nature #underwater #photography #photooftheday #national #geographic A photo posted by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Jul 15, 2016 at 4:27pm PDT