Sharks Codexery

Hardnose shark

A small, gregarious requiem shark with a calcified snout.

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Hardnose shark

Müller & Henle · via Wikipedia: Hardnose shark · Public domain

The hardnose shark is a slim, bronze-coloured requiem shark that lives in the warm coastal waters of the tropical western Indo-Pacific.[1][2] Its most distinctive feature is its unusually stiff, calcified snout, which gives the species its common name.[2]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassChondrichthyes
  4. SubclassElasmobranchii
  5. DivisionSelachii
  6. OrderCarcharhiniformes
  7. FamilyCarcharhinidae
  8. GenusCarcharhinus
  9. SpeciesCarcharhinus macloti

Named by (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1839)

Close relatives

Other species of Carcharhinus with a Codexery entry.

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Hardnose shark (CC BY-SA 4.0) · order, family and genus agree with WoRMS AphiaID 217335 (CC BY 4.0)

Conservation status

Near Threatened (NT)

  1. LC
  2. NT▲ this species
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX
Population trend
Not held in our sources — see the assessment
Assessment published
2021

Source: IUCN Red List assessment · GBIF copy of the Red List category

How big is it?

Size comparison: Hardnose shark and a personA 1.1 m long hardnose shark drawn to scale next to a 1.8 m tall person. Schematic shapes, not a likeness.1.1 m1.8 m

Largest length in the source, 1.1 m, next to a 1.8 m person.

Diagram: drawn by Codexery, schematic shapes to scale (not a likeness). Length: Wikipedia: Hardnose shark

Where the hardnose shark has been recorded

Where the hardnose shark has been recorded47 mapped locations from 3,036 GBIF occurrence records

Each dot is a place where the species has been observed and reported (3,036 records, half-degree grid) — not a modelled range. 13 inland records left out (institution coordinates). 1 isolated far-off record not drawn.

Map: drawn by Codexery. Data: GBIF occurrence search (records CC0 / CC BY) · Natural Earth basemap (public domain)

Description

The hardnose shark has a long, narrow, and pointed snout, and the cartilage inside it is heavily hardened with calcium, so the snout feels stiff.[2] The arched mouth has faint furrows at the corners, and the tiny pores above the mouth (called hyomandibular pores) may or may not be enlarged.[2] Those big, round eyes come with a built-in third eyelid called a nictitating membrane that protects them.[2] Up top, you'll find 29 to 32 rows of teeth, each with a narrow, smooth central point and really rough serrations down near the base.[2]

Down below, there are 26 to 29 rows of teeth, and they're narrow and smooth all the way.[2] This shark breathes through five pairs of gill slits, and they're all pretty short.[2] A medium-sized, triangular first dorsal fin starts up roughly where the free rear tips of the pectoral fins end.[2] Right where the upper tail fin begins, you'll see a clear notch on the tail stalk (the caudal peduncle).[2]

This shark shows off a bronze back and a white belly, with a very faint pale stripe along its sides.[2] A full-grown hardnose shark tops out at about 1.1 meters long.[2]

Biology and ecology

It is viviparous—the young develop inside the mother. Once the embryos use up their yolk supply, the empty yolk sac becomes a placental connection that provides nutrition.[3] Males and females tend to keep to their own separate gangs.[3] Every other year, a female gives birth to just one or two pups after carrying them for twelve months.[4] Newborn pups measure between 45 and 55 centimeters, and they become sexually mature when they reach 70 to 75 centimeters.[4]

Distribution and habitat

Tagging studies reveal that these sharks aren't big travelers—30 percent of recaptured individuals had moved less than 50 kilometers from where scientists first tagged them.[5] The longest journey scientists have recorded for one of these sharks is 711 kilometers.[5]

Human interactions

Don't worry—this shark poses no danger to people.[6] Fisheries across much of its range catch this shark with gillnets and line gear, both for small-scale and commercial operations.[6] People sell its meat fresh or dried and salted, but because the shark is small, it doesn't bring in much money.[6] Because it reproduces slowly, it could be vulnerable to overfishing, and with current fishing pressure, the IUCN lists it as Near Threatened globally.[6][7]

Taxonomy and phylogeny

Back in 1839, German biologists Johannes Müller and Jakob Henle first described this shark.[8] Scientists still haven't completely figured out how the hardnose shark is related to other sharks.[9] A 1988 study based on shape tentatively grouped it with several other requiem sharks, but later molecular studies have given inconsistent results.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Hardnose shark" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rigby, C.L., "Carcharhinus macloti", 2021; "Field Guide for Sharks of the Genus Carcharhinus", Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, 2011, p. 80–81 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Hardnose shark" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sharks and Rays of Australia", Harvard University Press, 2009, p. 266–267; "Field Guide for Sharks of the Genus Carcharhinus", Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, 2011, p. 80–81; Compagno, L.J.V., "Sharks of the World: An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Shark Species Known to Date", Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, 1984, p. 486–487 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Hardnose shark" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Field Guide for Sharks of the Genus Carcharhinus", Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, 2011, p. 80–81; "Acanthocheilus rotundatus (Nematoda: Acanthocheilidae) from the intestine of shark (Carcharhinus macloti) in Persian Gulf, Iran", Iranian Journal of Veterinary Research, 2008, p. 178–180; "Redescriptions and new records of species of Otobothrium Linton, 1890 (Cestoda: Trypanorhyncha)", Systematic Parasitology, 2013, p. 17–55 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Hardnose shark" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rigby, C.L., "Carcharhinus macloti", 2021 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Hardnose shark" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sharks and Rays of Australia", Harvard University Press, 2009, p. 266–267 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Hardnose shark" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Compagno, L.J.V., "Sharks of the World: An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Shark Species Known to Date", Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, 1984, p. 486–487 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. IUCN Red List assessment (category and year as redistributed in GBIF's IUCN Red List checklist). IUCN Red List terms: fact (category, year) cited, no text reused. iucnredlist.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Hardnose shark" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen (volume 2)", Veit und Comp., 1839, p. 34 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Hardnose shark" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Compagno, L.J.V., "Sharks of the Order Carcharhiniformes", Princeton University Press, 1988, p. 319–320; Naylor, G.J.P., "The phylogenetic relationships among requiem and hammerhead sharks: inferring phylogeny when thousands of equally most parsimonious trees result", Cladistics, 1992, p. 295–318; "Shark tales: A molecular species-level phylogeny of sharks (Selachimorpha, Chondrichthyes)", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, February 2011, p. 207–217; "The Biology of Sharks and Their Relatives", CRC Press, 2012, p. 31–57 (we also read en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Hardnose shark (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Same family (Carcharhinidae)

Atlantic sharpnose shark Rhizoprionodon terraenovaeBorneo broadfin shark Lamiopsis tephrodesBrazilian sharpnose shark Rhizoprionodon lalandiiBroadfin shark Lamiopsis temminckiiGanges shark Glyphis gangeticus

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Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. What is the scientific name of the hardnose shark?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Carcharhinus macloti.

From the source: “The hardnose shark (Carcharhinus macloti) is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, so named because of the heavily calcified cartilages in its snout.”

2. In what year was the hardnose shark first scientifically described?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1839.

From the source: “The hardnose shark was described by German biologists Johannes Müller and Jakob Henle in their 1839 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen.”

3. To which genus does the hardnose shark belong?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Carcharhinus.

From the source: “The hardnose shark (Carcharhinus macloti) is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, so named because of the heavily calcified cartilages in its snout.”

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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