| Carcharhinus Temporal range: Lutetian-recent ~ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Grey reef shark (C. amblyrhynchos) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Division: | Selachii |
| Order: | Carcharhiniformes |
| Family: | Carcharhinidae |
| Genus: | Carcharhinus Blainville 1816 |
| Type species | |
| Carcharias elegans | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Carcharhinus is the type genus of the family Carcharhinidae, the requiem sharks. One of 12 genera in its family, it contains over half of the species therein. It contains 36-38 extant and eight extinct species to date, with likely more species yet to be described.[3]
Species
Fossil teeth suggest that a majority of extant species in Carcharhinus already evolved by the Early Miocene, and these species start appearing in the fossil record starting from this time.[4] Fossil Carcharhinus teeth tend to be highly species-specific in morphology, but are highly variable both within and among species, and even within the jaw, and thus require careful study to assign to their respective species.[5]
Extant
The following species are placed in this genus:[6]
| Genus Carcharhinus Blainville 1816 - 36 extant species | |||||
| Common name | Scientific name | Geographic range | Conservation status IUCN Red List |
Length | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blacknose shark | Carcharhinus acronotus (Poey, 1860) |
 |
Endangered | 1.3 m (4.3 ft) |  |
| Silvertip shark | Carcharhinus albimarginatus (Rüppell, 1837) |
 |
Vulnerable | 2–2.5 m (6.6–8.2 ft) maximum 3 m (9.8 ft) |
 |
| Bignose shark | Carcharhinus altimus (S. Springer, 1950) |
 |
Near threatened | 2.7–2.8 m (8.9–9.2 ft) possibly 3 m (9.8 ft) |
 |
| Graceful shark | Carcharhinus amblyrhynchoides (Whitley, 1934) |
 |
Vulnerable | 1.7 m (5.6 ft) |  |
| Grey reef shark | Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos (Bleeker, 1856) |
 |
Endangered | Mostly less than 1.9 m (6.2 ft) maximum 2.6 m (8.5 ft) |
|
| Pigeye shark | Carcharhinus amboinensis (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Vulnerable | 1.9–2.5 m (6.2–8.2 ft) max. 2.8 m (9.2 ft) |
 |
| Borneo shark | Carcharhinus borneensis (Bleeker, 1858) |
 |
Critically endangered | 0.7 m (2.3 ft) | |
| Copper shark | Carcharhinus brachyurus (Günther, 1870) |
 |
Vulnerable | 3.3 m (11 ft) |  |
| Spinner shark | Carcharhinus brevipinna (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Vulnerable | 2 m (6.6 ft) maximum 3 m (9.8 ft) |
.png){kind=small} |
| Nervous shark | Carcharhinus cautus (Whitley, 1945) |
 |
Least concern | 1.0–1.3 m (3.3–4.3 ft) possibly 1.5 m (4.9 ft) |
 |
| Pacific smalltail shark | Carcharhinus cerdale C. H. Gilbert, 1898 |
 |
Critically endangered | 1.4 m (4.6 ft) |  |
| Australian blackspot shark | Carcharhinus coatesi (Whitley, 1939) |
Least concern | 0.8 m (2.6 ft) |  | |
| Whitecheek shark | Carcharhinus dussumieri (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Endangered | 1 m (3.3 ft) |  |
| Silky shark | Carcharhinus falciformis (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Vulnerable | 2.5 m (8.2 ft) maximum 3.3 m (11 ft) |
.png){kind=small} |
| Creek whaler | Carcharhinus fitzroyensis (Whitley, 1943) |
 |
Least concern | 1.0–1.3 m (3.3–4.3 ft) possibly 1.5 m (4.9 ft) |
 |
| Galapagos shark | Carcharhinus galapagensis (Snodgrass & Heller, 1905) |
 |
Least concern | 3 m (9.8 ft) maximum 3.3 m (11 ft) |
 |
| Pondicherry shark | Carcharhinus hemiodon (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Critically endangered | 1 m (3.3 ft) |  |
| Human's whaler shark | Carcharhinus humani W. T. White & Weigmann, 2014 |
Data deficient | 0.8 m (2.6 ft) | ||
| Finetooth shark | Carcharhinus isodon (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Near threatened | 1.6–1.7 m (5.2–5.6 ft) maximum 1.9 m (6.2 ft) |
 |
| Smoothtooth blacktip shark | Carcharhinus leiodon Garrick, 1985 |
 |
Endangered | 1.2 m (3.9 ft) |  |
| Bull shark | Carcharhinus leucas (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Vulnerable | 2.3–2.4 m (7.5–7.9 ft) maximum 3.6–4.0 m (11.8–13.1 ft) |
.png) |
| Blacktip shark | Carcharhinus limbatus (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Vulnerable | 1.5 m (4.9 ft) maximum 2.6 m (8.5 ft) |
.png) |
| Oceanic whitetip shark | Carcharhinus longimanus (Poey, 1861) |
 |
Critically endangered | 3 m (9.8 ft) | .png) |
| Hardnose shark | Carcharhinus macloti (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Near threatened | 1.1 m (3.6 ft) |  |
| Blacktip reef shark | TCarcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) |
 |
Vulnerable | 1.6 m (5.2 ft) maximum 1.8 m (5.9 ft) |
 |
| Dusky shark | Carcharhinus obscurus (Lesueur, 1818) |
 |
Endangered | 3.2 m (10 ft) maximum 4.0 m (13.1 ft) |
.png){kind=small} |
| Lost shark[7] | Carcharhinus obsoletus White, Kyne, & Harris, 2019 |
Critically endangered (possibly extinct) | 0.37–0.43 m (15–17 in) (juvenile length only) |
||
| Daggernose shark | Carcharhinus oxyrhynchus
(J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Critically endangered | 1.5 m (4.9 ft) |  |
| Caribbean reef shark | Carcharhinus perezi (Poey, 1876) |
 |
Endangered | 2–2.5 m (6.6–8.2 ft) maximum 3 m (9.8 ft) |
 |
| Sandbar shark | Carcharhinus plumbeus (Nardo, 1827) |
 |
Endangered | 2–2.5 m (6.6–8.2 ft) | .png) |
| Smalltail shark | Carcharhinus porosus (Ranzani, 1839) |
 |
Critically endangered | 0.9–1.1 m (3.0–3.6 ft) maximum 1.5 m (4.9 ft) |
 |
| Blackspot shark | Carcharhinus sealei (Pietschmann, 1913) |
 |
Vulnerable | 1 m (3.3 ft) |  |
| Night shark | Carcharhinus signatus (Poey, 1868) |
 |
Endangered | 2 m (6.6 ft) maximum 2.8 m (9.2 ft) |
 |
| Spot-tail shark | Carcharhinus sorrah (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839) |
 |
Near threatened | 1.6 m (5.2 ft) |  |
| Australian blacktip shark | Carcharhinus tilstoni (Whitley, 1950) |
 |
Least concern | 1.5–1.8 m (4.9–5.9 ft) maximum 2 m (6.6 ft) |
 |
| Indonesian whaler shark | Carcharhinus tjutjot (Bleeker, 1852) |
Vulnerable | 0.9 m (3.0 ft) |  | |
In addition, Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes recognizes two species of uncertain validity:[6]
- Carcharhinus acarenatus Moreno & Hoyos, 1983 - Native to the western Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic, around the coast of the Iberian Peninsula south to Morocco. Often treated as synonymous with the copper shark.
- Carcharhinus japonicus Temminck & Schlegel, 1850 - Native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Often treated as synonymous with the sandbar shark.
Fossil
See also
References
- ↑ Carrier, J.C.; J.A. Musick & M.R. Heithaus (2004). Biology of Sharks and Their Relatives. CRC Press. p. 52. ISBN 0-8493-1514-X.
- 1 2 Cicimurri & Knight, 2009
- ↑ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Carcharhinus". FishBase. February 2011 version.
- ↑ Höltke, Olaf; Maxwell, Erin E.; Rasser, Michael W. (2024-02-26). "A Review of the Paleobiology of Some Neogene Sharks and the Fossil Records of Extant Shark Species". Diversity. 16 (3): 147. Bibcode:2024Diver..16..147H. doi:10.3390/d16030147. ISSN 1424-2818.
- ↑ Naylor, Gavin J. P.; Naylor, Gavin J. P.; Marcus, Leslie Floyd (1994). Identifying isolated shark teeth of the genus Carcharhinus to species: relevance for tracking phyletic change through the fossil record. Vol. 3109. New York, N.Y: American Museum of Natural History.
- 1 2 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Carcharhinus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
- ↑ Harris et al., 2019
- 1 2 Carcharhinus egertoni at Fossilworks.org
- 1 2 3 De Aráujo Távora et al., 2010
- 1 2 Carcharhinus priscus at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ Carrillo Briceño et al., 2015
- ↑ Aguilera & De Aguilera, 2001
- ↑ C. ackermani at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ Collareta, Alberto; Kindlimann, René; Baglioni, Alessio; Landini, Walter; Sarti, Giovanni; Altamirano, Alí; Urbina, Mario; Bianucci, Giovanni (2022-10-10). "Dental Morphology, Palaeoecology and Palaeobiogeographic Significance of a New Species of Requiem Shark (Genus Carcharhinus) from the Lower Miocene of Peru (East Pisco Basin, Chilcatay Formation)". Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 10 (10): 1466. Bibcode:2022JMSE...10.1466C. doi:10.3390/jmse10101466. hdl:11568/1160771. ISSN 2077-1312.
- ↑ C. gibbesi at Fossilworks.org
- 1 2 Adnet et al., 2007
- ↑ C. balochenisis at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ C. perseus at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ C. nigeriensis at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ Halstead & Middleton, 1974
- ↑ J. Cicimurri, David; A. Ebersole, Jun (2021-01-01). "New Paleogene elasmobranch (Chondrichthyes) records from the Gulf Coastal Plain of the United States, including a new species of Carcharhinus de Blainville, 1816". Cainozoic Research. 21 (2): 147–164. ISSN 1570-0399.
- ↑ "40 Million-Year-Old Fossil Shark Named in Honor of LSU Collection Manager Suyin Ting". www.lsu.edu. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
Bibliography
- Adnet, S.; Antoine, P.-O.; Hassan Baqri, S.R.; Crochet, J.; Marivaux, L.; Welcomme, J.; Métais, G. (2007). "New tropical carcharhinids (chondrichthyes, Carcharhiniformes) from the late Eocene–early Oligocene of Balochistan, Pakistan: Paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic implications". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 30 (2): 303–323. Bibcode:2007JAESc..30..303A. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2006.10.002. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
- Aguilera, Ó; De Aguilera, D. (2001). "An exceptional coastal upwelling fish assemblage in the Caribbean Neogene". Journal of Paleontology. 75 (3): 732–742. Bibcode:2001JPal...75..732A. doi:10.1017/S0022336000039767. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
- De Araújo Távora, Vladimir; Rodrigues dos Santos, André Augusto; Neto Araújo, Raphael (2010). "Localidades fossilíferas da Formação Pirabas (Mioceno Inferior)" (PDF). Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. 5 (2): 207–224. doi:10.46357/bcnaturais.v5i2.644. Retrieved 2017-08-15.
- Carrillo Briceño, Jorge D.; Maxwell, Erin; Aguilera, Órangel A.; Sánchez, Rodolfo; Sánchez Villagra, Marcelo R. (2015). "Sawfishes and Other Elasmobranch Assemblages from the Mio-Pliocene of the South Caribbean (Urumaco Sequence, Northwestern Venezuela)". PLoS ONE. 10 (10) e0139230. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1039230C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139230. PMC 4619466. PMID 26488163.
- Cicimurri, D.J.; Knight, J.L. (2009). "Late Oligocene sharks and rays from the Chandler Bridge Formation, Dorchester County, South Carolina, USA" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 54 (4): 627–647. doi:10.4202/app.2008.0077. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
- Halstead, L.B.; Middleton, J.A. (1974). "New material of the archaeocete whale Pappocetus lugardi Andrews, from the middle Eocene of Nigeria". Journal of Mining and Geology. 8: 81–85.
- Harris, Mark; Kyne, Peter M.; White, William T. (2019). "Lost before found: A new species of whaler shark Carcharhinus obsolerus from the Western Central Pacific known only from historic records". PLoS ONE. 14 (1) e0209387. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1409387W. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209387. PMC 6314596. PMID 30601867.
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