Where Sandbar shark has been recorded
GBIF occurrence records for Carcharhinus plumbeus, mapped and tabulated by country.
29,467 georeferenced occurrence records with coordinates are published for Carcharhinus plumbeus through GBIF, from 55 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
- 29,467
- Countries / areas
- 55
- Mapped locations
- 158
- Records sampled for the map
- 3,000
- Inland records omitted
- 52
- Gbif taxonkey
- 2418009
Countries and areas with the most records (GBIF)
Australia — 21,836 records; United States of America — 4,944 records; Faroe Islands — 1,088 records; Puerto Rico — 443 records; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — 410 records; Brazil — 388 records; France — 38 records; Italy — 31 records; Svalbard and Jan Mayen — 22 records; Mexico — 20 records; Croatia — 19 records; New Caledonia — 15 records; South Africa — 15 records; Israel — 13 records; Mozambique — 12 records.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2418009) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2418009&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; Tanzanian Exclusive Economic Zone; Seychellois Exclusive Economic Zone; Madagascar; Mauritian Exclusive Economic Zone; Réunion Exclusive Economic Zone; Red Sea; Djiboutian Exclusive Economic Zone; Eritrean Exclusive Economic Zone; Somali Exclusive Economic Zone; South Africa (country); Gulf of Maine; Greek Exclusive Economic Zone; Gulf of Mexico; Israeli part of the Mediterranean Sea - Eastern Basin; Western Indian Ocean.
Source: WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105797 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.
How to read this map
The map plots a sample of 3,000 of the 29,467 records, deduplicated to a half-degree grid, so dense areas do not merge into one blob. The sample covers 23 of the 55 countries or areas with records; the areas absent from the sample hold 1,625 records in total (Faroe Islands, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Croatia, South Africa, Portugal, Norway, Iceland).
52 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 2418009) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2418009&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105797 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Gallery
Related in Sandbar shark
Links follow this subject's own source article.
Elsewhere in Sandbar shark
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced