Blue sharks are found worldwide, in temperate and tropical waters. They are a pelagic species that rarely comes near shore. They have been known to frequently swim to inshore areas around oceanic islands, and locations where the continental shelf is narrow. In the western Atlantic they can be found from Newfoundland, Canada to Argentina. In the eastern Atlantic they range from Norway to South Africa, including the Mediterranean. In the Indian Ocean, they range from South Africa to Indonesia. In the western Pacific they are found from Japan to New Zealand. In the eastern Pacific, Blue sharks range from the Gulf of Alaska to Chile.