Dark, bluish-gray (young paler) back, with a distinctive whitish stripe on the flank. The inside tip of the pectoral fin is conspicuously black, as are the dorsal and anal fin tips, and lower lobe of caudal in young blacktips. First dorsal fin begins above the axil of pectoral fin. No middorsal ridge. Upper and lower teeth are serrated and nearly symmetrical. The blacktip is a stout shark that sports a long, slender, pointed snout, as well as long gill slits.