Carcharias
| Carcharias Temporal range: Late Cretaceous to present
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|---|---|
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| Sand tiger shark, (Carcharias taurus) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Order: | Lamniformes |
| Family: | Odontaspididae |
| Genus: | Carcharias Rafinesque, 1810 |
| Species | |
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See text | |
Carcharias is a genus of sand tiger sharks belonging to the family Odontaspididae.
Description
Carcharias are 2.5m 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]
Extant Species
- Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1810 (Sand tiger shark)
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] Extinct species include:[12]
Cretaceous species[13]
- Carcharias tenuiplicatus
- Carcharias holmdelensis Maastrichtian
- Carcharias samhammeri Late Cretaceous
- Carcharias heathi Late Cretaceous
Paleogene species[13]
- Carcharias acutissima (Agassiz, 1844) - Late Eocene
- Carcharias atlasi
- Carcharias hopei (Agassiz, 1843) - Late Palaeocene - Eocene
- Carcharias koerti (Stromer, 1905)
- Carcharias robusta? (Leriche, 1921) - Early Eocene
- Carcharias teretidens - maybe placed into its own genus as Sylvestrilamia teretidens[14]
- Carcharias teretidens (White, 1931), - Late Palaeocene - Eocene
- Carcharias tingitana (Arambourg, 1952)
- Carcharias vincenti (Woodward, 1899)
- Carcharias whitei (Arambourg, 1952) - Paleocene
- Carcharias acutissima (Agassiz, 1843), Oligocene - Pliocene
- Carcharias reticulata (Probst, 1879), Oligocene - Miocene
- Carcharias cuspidata (Agassiz, 1843), Oligocene - Miocene
- Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1810, Pliocene - Pleistocene
- Carcharias cuspidata (Agassiz, 1843), Pliocene - Miocene
- Carcharias sp. - unidentified but maybe similar to the Carcharias contortidens as described by Agassiz in 1843, from the Miocene.
- Carcharias reticulata (Kent 1994) maybe classified as Odontaspis acutissma (Agassiz 1843) from the Miocene.
References
- ^ "Carcharias taurus".
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Garman. "sand Shark".
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b "Sand Tiger Sharks, Carcharias taurus". Archived from the original on 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
- ^ C. acutidens on WoRMS)
- ^ C. borneensis on WoRMS
- ^ C. brachyrhynchos on WoRMS
- ^ C. brevipinna on WoRMS
- ^ C. falciformis on WoRMS
- ^ C. fronto on WoRMS
- ^ C. hemiodon on WoRMS
- ^ C. sealei on WoRMS
- ^ a b Fossilworks
- ^ a b c Carcharias RAFINESQUE 1810 Sand tiger - Lower Cretaceous - Recent Accessed 2008/07/07
- ^ "Sylvestrilamia CAPPETTA & NOLF 2005 Extinct sand tiger shark — Palaeocene - Eocene Accessed 2008/07/07".
- ^ Shark teeth references Accessed 2008/07/07 Archived May 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine