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Carcharhinus

Chondrichthyes - Carcharhiniformes - Carcharhinidae

Taxonomy
Carcharhinus was named by de Blainville (1816) [Sepkoski's age data: ]. It is extant.

It was synonymized subjectively with Carcharias by Jordan (1907).

It was assigned to Carcharhininae by Hay (1902); to Galeorhinidae by Jordan and Gilbert (1919), Jordan and Hanibal (1923); to Carcharinidae by Dartevelle and Casier (1943); to Galeidae by Jordan (1963); to Carcharhiniformes by Sepkoski (2002), Kriwet (2005); to Carcharhinini by Noubhani and Cappetta (1997), Landau et al. (2025); and to Carcharhinidae by White (1926), Arambourg (1927), Casier (1958), Yabe and Hirayama (1998), Purdy et al. (2001), Compagno (2005), Carnevale et al. (2006), Kocsis (2007), Adnet et al. (2007), Cicimurri and Knight (2009), Carillo-Briceño et al. (2014), Reinecke and Radwanski (2015), Carrillo-Briceño et al. (2016), Hastings and Dooley (2017), Szabo et al. (2017), Kent (2018), Ebersole et al. (2019), Landini et al. (2019), Adnet et al. (2020), Villafaña et al. (2020), Cicimurri and Ebersole (2021), Rana et al. (2021), Collareta et al. (2022), Cicimurri et al. (2022), Verma (2024), Maisch IV et al. (2025), Cicimurri et al. (2025), Cantalice et al. (2025), Marramà et al. (2026).

Species
C. (Prionodon), C. acanthodon (syn. C. (Hypoprion) lusitanicus), C. ackermannii, C. acronotus, C. albimarginatus, C. altimus, C. amblyrhynchoides, C. amblyrhynchos, C. amboinensis, C. antiquus, C. balochenisis, C. bhubanicus, C. brachyurus (syn. Carcharias lamiella), C. brevipinna, C. caquetius, C. cionei, C. collatus, C. dicelmai, C. egertoni, C. elongatus, C. falciformis, C. galapagensis, C. gibbesii, C. gilmorei, C. kasserinensis, C. lamia (syn. C. commersoni), C. leucas, C. limbatus, C. longimanus, C. macloti, C. magdalenae, C. malembeensis, C. mancinae, C. marcaisi, C. melanopterus, C. nigeriensis, C. obscurus, C. perezi, C. perseus, C. plumbeus, C. porosus, C. priscus (syn. Carcharias (Aprion) stellatus, Carcharias (Aprion) brevis, Carcharias (Scoliodon) kraussi), C. sealei, C. signatus, C. sorrah, C. tingae, C. tjutjot
Species lacking formal opinion data
C. ackermani, C. albomarginatus, C. ambionensis, C. balochensis, C. brachiurus, C. brachurus, C. collata, C. egeroni, C. eggertoni, C. gangeticus, C. maculipinnis, C. pristis, C. similis
Entered
by J. Sepkoski on 2003-01-23; modified by L. van den Hoek Ostende on 2013-04-30

Synonymy list
YearName and author
1816Carcharhinus de Blainville
1902Carcharhinus Hay p. 312
1919Carcharhinus Jordan and Gilbert p. 21
1923Carcharhinus Jordan and Hanibal p. 36
1926Carcharhinus White p. 36
1927Carcharhinus Arambourg p. 230
1943Carcharinus Dartevelle and Casier p. 156
1958Carcharhinus Casier p. 40
1963Carcharhinus Jordan p. 599
1997Carcharhinus Noubhani and Cappetta p. 88
1998Carcharhinus Yabe and Hirayama p. 50
2001Carcharhinus Purdy et al. p. 149
2002Carcharhinus Sepkoski
2005Carcharhinus Compagno
2005Carcharhinus Kriwet
2006Carcharhinus Carnevale et al. p. 362
2007Carcharhinus Adnet et al. p. 305
2007Carcharhinus Kocsis p. 36
2009Carcharhinus Cicimurri and Knight p. 632
2014Carcharhinus Carillo-Briceño et al. p. 83
2015Carcharhinus Reinecke and Radwanski p. 13
2016Carcharhinus Carrillo-Briceño et al. p. 87
2017Carcharhinus Hastings and Dooley p. 83
2017Carcharhinus Szabo et al.
2018Carcharhinus Kent p. 111
2019Carcharhinus Ebersole et al. p. 67
2019Carcharhinus Landini et al. p. 361
2020Carcharhinus Adnet et al. p. 6
2020Carcharhinus Villafaña et al.
2021Carcharhinus Cicimurri and Ebersole p. 150
2021Carcharhinus Rana et al. p. 7
2022Carcharhinus Cicimurri et al.
2022Carcharhinus Collareta et al. p. 6
2024Carcharhinus Verma p. 1995
2025Carcharhinus Cantalice et al. p. 5
2025Carcharhinus Cicimurri et al. p. 31
2025Carcharhinus Landau et al. p. 22
2025Carcharhinus Maisch IV et al. p. 28
2026Carcharhinus Marramà et al. p. 13

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
—Bilateria
—EubilateriaAx 1987
—Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
classChondrichthyes
RankNameAuthor
infraclassElasmobranchii(Bonaparte 1838)
—Euselachii()
—NeoselachiiCompagno 1977
superorderGaleomorphiiCompagno 1973
orderCarcharhiniformesCompagno 1973
familyCarcharhinidaeJordan and Evermann 1896
genusCarcharhinusde Blainville 1816

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. Carcharhinus de Blainville 1816
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Subg. Carcharhinus (Prionodon) Müller and Henle 1841
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†Carcharias (Prionodon) sorrah Valenciennes 1939
†Prionodon antiquus Agassiz 1856
†Prionodon carolinensis Leriche 1942
†Prionodon egertoni Agassiz 1843
†Prionodon tschoppi Leriche 1938
†Prionodon vonderschmitti Leriche 1938
†Carcharhinus acanthodon Le Hon 1871
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Invalid names: Carcharhinus (Hypoprion) lusitanicus Jonet 1966 [synonym]
†Carcharhinus ackermannii Santos and Travasos 1960
Carcharhinus acronotus Poey 1860 [blacknose shark]
Carcharhinus albimarginatus Rüppell 1837 [silvertip shark]
Carcharhinus altimus Springer 1950 [bignose shark]
Carcharhinus amblyrhynchoides Whitley 1934 [graceful shark]
Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos Bleeker 1856 [grey reef shark]
Carcharhinus amboinensis Muller and Henle 1839 [pigeye shark]
†Carcharhinus antiquus Agassiz 1856
†Carcharhinus balochenisis Adnet et al. 2007
Carcharhinus bhubanicus Ralte et al. 2011
Carcharhinus brachyurus Gunther 1870 [copper shark]
+
Invalid names: Carcharias lamiella Jordan and Gilbert 1883 [synonym]
†Carcharhinus brevipinna Müller and Henle 1839
†Carcharhinus caquetius Carrillo-Briceño et al. 2015
†Carcharhinus cionei Laurito 1999
†Carcharhinus collatus Eastman 1904
†Carcharhinus dicelmai Collareta et al. 2022
†Carcharhinus egertoni Agassiz 1843
†Carcharhinus elongatus Leriche 1910
Carcharhinus falciformis Bibron 1841 [silky shark]
Carcharhinus galapagensis Snodgrass and Heller 1905 [Galapagos shark]
Carcharhinus gibbesii Woodward 1889
†Carcharhinus gilmorei Leriche 1942
†Carcharhinus kasserinensis Adnet et al. 2020
Carcharhinus lamia Cuvier 1817
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Invalid names: Carcharhinus commersoni Blainville 1816 [synonym]
Carcharhinus leucas Valenciennes 1839 [bull shark]
Carcharhinus limbatus Valenciennes 1839 [blacktip shark]
Carcharhinus longimanus Poey 1861 [oceanic whitetip shark]
†Carcharhinus macloti Muller and Henle 1839
†Carcharhinus magdalenae Jordan and Hanibal 1923
†Carcharhinus malembeensis Dartevelle and Casier 1943
†Carcharhinus mancinae Ebersole et al. 2019
†Carcharhinus marcaisi Arambourg 1952
Carcharhinus melanopterus Quoy and Gaimard 1824 [blacktip reef shark]
Carcharhinus obscurus Le Sueur 1818 [dusky shark]
Carcharhinus perezi Poey 1876 [Caribbean reef shark]
†Carcharhinus perseus Adnet et al. 2007
Carcharhinus plumbeus Nardo 1827 [sandbar shark]
Carcharhinus porosus Ranzani 1839 [smalltail shark]
†Carcharhinus priscus Agassiz 1843
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Invalid names: Carcharias (Aprion) brevis Probst 1878 [synonym], Carcharias (Aprion) stellatus Probst 1878 [synonym], Carcharias (Scoliodon) kraussi Probst 1878 [synonym]
Carcharhinus sealei Pietschmann 1913 [blackspot shark]
Carcharhinus signatus Poey 1868 [night shark]
†Carcharhinus sorrah Valenciennes 1841
†Carcharhinus tingae Cicimurri and Ebersole 2021
Carcharhinus tjutjot Bleeker 1852
Diagnosis
No diagnoses are available