Where Bull shark has been recorded
GBIF occurrence records for Carcharhinus leucas, mapped and tabulated by country.
153,246 georeferenced occurrence records with coordinates are published for Carcharhinus leucas through GBIF, from 73 countries or marine areas. This page maps those records and lists where they come from. Occurrence records reflect where people have looked as well as where the species lives, so well-surveyed coastlines are over-represented.
- Georeferenced records
- 153,246
- Countries / areas
- 73
- Mapped locations
- 141
- Records sampled for the map
- 3,000
- Inland records omitted
- 107
- Gbif taxonkey
- 2418036
Countries and areas with the most records (GBIF)
Australia — 92,392 records; United States of America — 49,398 records; Mozambique — 6,162 records; South Africa — 2,934 records; Puerto Rico — 444 records; Mexico — 396 records; Brazil — 389 records; Cameroon — 335 records; French Guiana — 236 records; Fiji — 158 records; Bahamas — 46 records; Bangladesh — 42 records; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — 33 records; Panama — 28 records; Faroe Islands — 23 records.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2418036) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2418036&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Marine regions with a WoRMS distribution record
European waters (ERMS scope); North West Atlantic; Mozambican Exclusive Economic Zone; Kenyan Exclusive Economic Zone; Tanzanian Exclusive Economic Zone; Madagascar; Somali Exclusive Economic Zone; Mauritian Exclusive Economic Zone; South Africa (country); Gulf of Mexico; Azores Exclusive Economic Zone; Western Indian Ocean.
Source: WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105792 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.
How to read this map
The map plots a sample of 3,000 of the 153,246 records, deduplicated to a half-degree grid, so dense areas do not merge into one blob. The sample covers 30 of the 73 countries or areas with records; the areas absent from the sample hold 612 records in total (Puerto Rico, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Faroe Islands, Benin, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Cuba, United Arab Emirates).
107 records plotting inland were omitted: for a marine species those are almost always the holding institution's coordinates rather than a collection site.
Records show where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2418036) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2418036&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105792 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.
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