Carcharhinus

Lore & Background

Fossil teeth suggest that a majority of extant species in Carcharhinus had already evolved by the Early Miocene, and these species start appearing in the fossil record from that time. 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, thus requiring careful study to assign to their respective species. The following species are placed in this genus, with a type species noted. In addition, Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes recognizes two species of uncertain validity: Carcharhinus acarenatus, 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; and Carcharhinus japonicus, native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean, often treated as synonymous with the sandbar shark.