Carcharias

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Carcharias
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous to present
Carcharias taurus.jpg
Sand tiger shark, (Carcharias taurus), the last extant member of the genus

Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Superorder: Selachimorpha
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Odontaspididae
Genus: Carcharias
Rafinesque, 1810

Carcharias is a genus of sand tiger sharks belonging to the family Odontaspididae. Once bearing many prehistoric species, all have gone extinct with the exception of the critically endangered sand tiger shark.

Description[]

Carcharias are 2.5 m long on average. The maximum weight of the shark is 158.8 kg.[1]

Differentiating species of sharks is usually done by locating and measuring their fins. The second dorsal fin and the anal fin of Carcharias are very large. In fact, they are about equal in size. The pectoral fins are triangular and only slightly larger than the dorsal fins. The teeth are very long and narrow with sharp points. The teeth are smooth with no ridges. The tail is one third of the entire body size.[2]

Diet[]

Carcharias species hunt bony fish, small sharks, rays, squids, crabs, and lobsters.[3]

Habitat[]

Sand tiger sharks live in water depths ranging from 0 to 190 meters. They are found in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. They are commonly found in surf zones.[3]

Species[]

With the Latin name meaning “shark”, many species extant today have been placed into this genus before they were moved to different genera and orders.

Extant species[]

Species previously described in this genus[]

  • Carcharias acutidens Rüppell, 1837 (accepted as Negaprion acutidens)[4]
  • Carcharias borneensis Seale, 1910 (accepted as Carcharhinus sealei)[5]
  • Carcharias brachyrhynchos Bleeker, 1859 (accepted as Carcharhinus amboinensis)[6]
  • Carcharias brevipinna Müller & Henle, 1839 (accepted as Carcharhinus brevipinna)[7]
  • Carcharias falciformis Müller & Henle, 1839 (accepted as Carcharhinus falciformis)[8]
  • Carcharias fronto Jordan & Gilbert, 1882 (accepted as Negaprion brevirostris)[9]
  • Carcharias hemiodon Müller & Henle, 1839 (accepted as Carcharhinus hemiodon)[10]
  • Carcharias sealei Pietschmann, 1913 (accepted as Carcharhinus sealei)[11]

Extinct species[]

Extinct species within this genus lived from the Cretaceous period to the Quaternary period (from 99.7 to 0.012 Ma). Fossils have been found all over the world, especially in the Miocene and Oligocene sediments of Europe, the United States and Australia, in the Eocene of Egypt, Europe and the United States, as well as in the Cretaceous of Australia, Canada, the United States, Europe and Africa.[12] Species from the fossil record include:[12]

Fossil teeth of Carcharias holmdelensis from Israel, Upper Cretaceous
Fossil teeth of Carcharias samhammeri from Israel, Upper Cretaceous
Fossil teeth of Carcharias tingitana from Morocco, Paleogene

Cretaceous species[]

[13]

Paleogene species[]

  • (Agassiz, 1844) - Late Eocene
  • (Agassiz, 1843) - Late Palaeocene - Eocene
  • (Stromer, 1905)
  • ? (Leriche, 1921) - Early Eocene
  • - maybe placed into its own genus as Sylvestrilamia teretidens[13]
  • (White, 1931), - Late Palaeocene - Eocene
  • (Arambourg, 1952)
  • (Woodward, 1899)
  • (Arambourg, 1952) - Paleocene

[13]

Neogene[]

  • (Agassiz, 1843), Oligocene - Pliocene
  • (Probst, 1879), Oligocene - Miocene
  • (Agassiz, 1843), Oligocene - Miocene
  • Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1810, Pliocene - Present
  • (Agassiz, 1843), Pliocene - Miocene
  • Carcharias sp. - unidentified but maybe similar to the Carcharias contortidens as described by Agassiz in 1843, from the Miocene.
  • (Kent 1994) maybe classified as Odontaspis acutissma (Agassiz 1843) from the Miocene.

[13][14]

References[]

  1. ^ "Carcharias taurus, Sand tiger shark : fisheries, gamefish". www.fishbase.de.
  2. ^ Garman. "sand Shark".
  3. ^ a b "Sand Tiger Sharks, Carcharias taurus". Archived from the original on 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  4. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Negaprion acutidens (Rüppell, 1837)". www.marinespecies.org.
  5. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Carcharias borneensis Seale, 1910". www.marinespecies.org.
  6. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Carcharias brachyrhynchos Bleeker, 1859". www.marinespecies.org.
  7. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Carcharias brevipinna Müller & Henle, 1839". www.marinespecies.org.
  8. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Carcharias falciformis Müller & Henle, 1839". www.marinespecies.org.
  9. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Carcharias fronto Jordan & Gilbert, 1882". www.marinespecies.org.
  10. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Carcharias hemiodon Müller & Henle, 1839". www.marinespecies.org.
  11. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Carcharias sealei Pietschmann, 1913". www.marinespecies.org.
  12. ^ a b "Fossilworks: Carcharias". fossilworks.org.
  13. ^ a b c d "elasmo.com". www.elasmo.com.
  14. ^ "Shark teeth references Accessed 2008/07/07". Archived from the original on May 21, 2008.

External links[]

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