WoRMS taxon details

Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1810

105843  (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:105843)

accepted
Species
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
Not documented
Type locality contained in Sicily  
type locality contained in Sicily [details]
Description Lives mostly on or near the bottom, from the surf zone, in shallow bays, and around coral and rocky reefs down to at least...  
Description Lives mostly on or near the bottom, from the surf zone, in shallow bays, and around coral and rocky reefs down to at least 191 m depth on the outer shelves (Ref. 247). Migratory species which feeds on small fish, sharks, rays, squids, and on crabs and lobsters occasionally (Ref. 5213). Maybe solitary or forms small to large schools. Reproduction features ovophagy or uterine cannibalism. Only one of 16-23 egg cases survives. Inoffensive and unaggresive when not provoked (Ref. 247). [details]

Distribution Gulf of Maine to Argentina  
Distribution Gulf of Maine to Argentina [details]
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. (2024). FishBase. Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1810. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105843 on 2024-03-29
Date
action
by
2004-12-21 15:54:05Z
created
2008-01-15 17:27:08Z
changed

Creative Commons License The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License


original description  (of Carcharias griseus Ayres, 1843) Ayres, W. O. (1843). Descriptions of four species of fish from Brookhaven, L. I., all of which are believed to be new. <em>Boston Journal of Natural History.</em> 4 (3) (24): 293-302, 12-13. [details]   

context source (Deepsea) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), available online at http://www.iobis.org/ [details]   

context source (RAS) Australian Antarctic Data Centre. , available online at https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/biodiversity/ [details]   

context source (Bermuda) Smith-Vaniz, W. F.; Collette, B. B.; Luckhurst, B. E (1999). Fishes of Bermuda: History, zoogeography, annotated checklist, and identification keys (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists - Special Publication No.4) . ASIH, 424 pp. [details]   

basis of record van der Land, J.; Costello, M.J.; Zavodnik, D.; Santos, R.S.; Porteiro, F.M.; Bailly, N.; Eschmeyer, W.N.; Froese, R. (2001). Pisces, <B><I>in</I></B>: Costello, M.J. <i>et al.</i> (Ed.) (2001). <i>European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels,</i> 50: pp. 357-374 (look up in IMIS[details]   

additional source Collette, B. B., ; Klein-MacPhee, G. (2002). Bigelow and Schroeder's Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. <em>Smithsonian Institution Press.</em> 1-748. [details]   

additional source Compagno, L.J.V. (1984). FAO Species Catalogue No. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 1. Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. (125) Vol 4, Part 1. 246 pp. FAO, Rome. [details]   

additional source McEachran, J. D. (2009). Fishes (Vertebrata: Pisces) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 1223–1316 in: Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas. [details]   

additional source Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. <em>China Science Press.</em> 1267 pp. (look up in IMIS[details]  Available for editors  PDF available [request] 

additional source Froese, R. & D. Pauly (Editors). (2023). FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. version (02/2023)., available online at https://www.fishbase.org [details]   
 
 Present  Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio   Inaccurate  Introduced: alien  Containing type locality 
   

From other sources
Description Lives mostly on or near the bottom, from the surf zone, in shallow bays, and around coral and rocky reefs down to at least 191 m depth on the outer shelves (Ref. 247). Migratory species which feeds on small fish, sharks, rays, squids, and on crabs and lobsters occasionally (Ref. 5213). Maybe solitary or forms small to large schools. Reproduction features ovophagy or uterine cannibalism. Only one of 16-23 egg cases survives. Inoffensive and unaggresive when not provoked (Ref. 247). [details]

Diet feeds on a wide variety of bony fishes (teleosts), with elasmobranchs an important secondary prey; crustaceans, cephalopods, and marine mammals are also taken. Bony fish prey includes herring (Clupeidae), anchovies (Engraulidae), hake (Merluccidae), eels (Anguillidae), monkfish or anglers (Lophiidae), cusk eels (Ophidiidae), lizardfish (Synodontidae), sea catfish (Ariidae), croakers (Sciaenidae), Australian salmon (Arripidae), morwong (Cheilodactylidae), rock blackfish or opaleyes (Girellidae), bluefish, elf or taylor (Pomatomidae), mackerel and bonito (Scombridae),butterfishes (Stromateidae), snappers (Lutjanidae), wrasses (Labridae), mullet (Mugilidae), spadefish (Chaetodipteridae), sea robins (Triglidae), flatheads (Platycephalidae), duckbills (Percophidae), midshipmen (Batrachodidae), sea basses(Serranidae), porgies or sea bream (Sparidae), jacks (Carangidae), remoras (Echeneidae), flatfish (Pleuronectiformes) including soles (Soleidae), American soles (Achiridae), Atlantic flounders (Scophthalmidae), and righteye flounders (Paralichthyidae), and undoubtedly many others. Elasmobranch prey includes requiem sharks (Carcharhinidae), houndsharks (Triakidae), angel sharks (Squatinidae), skates (Rajidae) and their egg cases, and eagle rays (Aetobatus and Myliobatis, Myliobatidae). Invertebrate prey includes squid (Loliginidae), crabs, lobsters and hermit crabs (Paguridae). Plant material is rarely found in stomach contents, and presumably is accidentally ingested along with animal prey. [details]

Diet Feeds on bony fishes, small sharks, rays, squids, crabs and lobsters [details]

Distribution Gulf of Maine to Argentina [details]

Habitat benthic [details]

Habitat An inshore and offshore, littoral shark. This shark occurs in the surf zone off sandy and rocky beaches, in shallow bays, on offshore banks and reefs, in underwater caves, in troughs on sandy areas, and around coral and rocky reefs from the intertidal less than 1mdeep down to at least 191 m, with most at depths of 15 to 25 m. This species is often found near or on the bottom but also occurs in midwater or at the surface. [details]

Habitat Found at depths of 0-191 m, often on or near the bottom. [details]

Importance Social- Commercial, gamefish [details]

Length Maximum total length at least 318 cm, with recent records from shark meshing operations in Australia suggesting a maximum of at least 4.3 m. Older accounts attribute a size of at least 6.1 m to this species (Day, 1878), but this is unlikely. Size at birth 95 to 105 cm. Males maturing at about 190 to 195 cm with adults 220 to 257+ cm; females maturing at 220 cm or more and reaching 300+ cm, with immatures up to 225 cm. [details]

Predators Man [details]

Reproduction Ovoviviparous; has one of the lowest reproductive rates known among elasmobranchs, 1-2 large young every 2 years; in Florida waters, the birthing season is November to February [details]
LanguageName 
Afrikaans spikkel-skeurtandhaai  [details]
Albanian peshkaqen i egër [from synonym]  [details]
Dutch zandtijgerhaai  [details]
English yellow sharkyellow bellytiger sharkspotted ragged-tooth sharkshovel-nosed sharkshovelnose sharksandtiger sharksand tiger sharksand tigersand sharkraggieraggedtooth sharkOwston’s sand sharkgrey sharkgrey nurse sharkgrey nursebrown sharkblue nurse shark  [details]
French verdounrequin taureaurequin sable tacheteodontaspide taureaulamio  [details]
German SandtigerhaiSandtiger  [details]
Hebrew כריש-שן שורי [from synonym]  [details]
Hindi toro bambacodundanee  [details]
Italian triglochide tauropisci caniodontaspe taurocarcharia tauro  [details]
Japanese シロワニumiwanishirowani  [details]
Modern Greek (1453-) Ταυροκαρχαρίας  [details]
Polish tawrosz piaskowy  [details]
Spanish toro bacotatiburón torotiburón de leznastiburón arenero tigretiburónsardapez toro  [details]
Turkish pamuk balığıpamuk baligikum kaplanıkum kaplani  [details]
Ukrainian Звичайна піщана акулаАкула піщана звичайна  [details]
Vietnamese ca nham nhonca nham nhan  [details]