Carcharhiniformes

Carcharhiniformes, commonly called ground sharks, are the largest order of sharks, with over 270 species. They include a number of common types, such as cat sharks, swellsharks, and hound sharks.

Carcharhiniformes

Apex Predators Program, NOAA/NEFSC · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
ground sharkPBDB
Sits inside
GaleomorphiiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektonicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 201 million years on record.

The record covers at least 201.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 205.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 1 of 4497 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 4497 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 6 of 4497 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 6 of 4497 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 68 of 4497 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 360 of 4497 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 263 of 4497 occurrencesEocene — about 1474 of 4497 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 196 of 4497 occurrencesMiocene — about 1687 of 4497 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 264 of 4497 occurrencesPleistocene — about 148 of 4497 occurrences210–203 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences203–196 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences175–168 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences168–161 Mya — about 5 occurrences161–154 Mya — about 2 occurrences154–147 Mya — about 4 occurrences147–140 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences140–133 Mya — about 7 occurrences133–126 Mya — about 3 occurrences126–119 Mya — about 15 occurrences119–112 Mya — about 4 occurrences112–105 Mya — about 16 occurrences105–98 Mya — about 36 occurrences98–91 Mya — about 33 occurrences91–84 Mya — about 61 occurrences84–77 Mya — about 79 occurrences77–70 Mya — about 95 occurrences70–63 Mya — about 166 occurrences63–56 Mya — about 177 occurrences56–49 Mya — about 287 occurrences49–42 Mya — about 450 occurrences42–35 Mya — about 607 occurrences35–28 Mya — about 234 occurrences28–21 Mya — about 189 occurrences21–14 Mya — about 630 occurrences14–7.0 Mya — about 794 occurrences7.0–0 Mya — about 600 occurrences201.4 Mya11.7 ka210 Mya0 Mya

4,497 occurrences of Carcharhiniformes on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

4,497 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

438 formations

Gehannam — 29.31°N, 30.18°EGehannam — 29.36°N, 30.16°EGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°EGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EChucunaque — 9.13°N, 78.75°WChucunaque — 9.15°N, 78.78°WBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.04°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.06°EBirket Qarun — 29.50°N, 30.56°EBirket Qarun — 29.45°N, 30.36°EPirabas — 1.21°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.63°S, 47.54°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 0.73°S, 47.49°WPirabas — 0.64°S, 47.38°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WCalvert — 38.55°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 38.17°N, 76.81°WCalvert — 37.54°N, 77.44°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WDongen — 52.73°N, 6.30°EDongen — 53.16°N, 6.22°EDongen — 52.12°N, 6.72°ELagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.28°WLagos-Portimão — 37.12°N, 8.54°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.67°WMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.80°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WGatun — 9.34°N, 79.88°WCantaure — 11.97°N, 70.02°WCantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.45°N, 1.36°WNewhaven Chalk — 50.88°N, 0.81°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.53°N, 0.70°WNewhaven Chalk — 50.67°N, 1.10°WUrumaco — 11.25°N, 70.28°WUrumaco — 11.24°N, 70.25°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.57°N, 88.34°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.39°N, 88.69°WTallahatta — 31.30°N, 86.48°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WQasr el-Sagha — 29.60°N, 30.67°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.27°N, 30.01°EGosport Sand — 31.54°N, 87.52°WGosport Sand — 31.53°N, 87.57°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 87.80°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°WGosport Sand — 31.59°N, 88.02°WCouche II — 32.87°N, 6.57°WCouche II — 32.65°N, 6.68°WCouche II — 32.72°N, 6.78°WCouche II — 32.85°N, 6.63°WCouche II — 32.81°N, 6.83°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WLondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.38°N, 0.24°WLondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.65°WLondon Clay — 50.88°N, 1.30°WLondon Clay — 51.64°N, 0.78°EEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.44°ELisbon — 31.36°N, 86.52°WLisbon — 31.83°N, 88.31°WLisbon — 31.75°N, 88.10°WHunstanton — 54.15°N, 0.17°WHunstanton — 53.68°N, 0.50°WPisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WPisco — 15.44°S, 74.87°WPisco — 15.56°S, 74.69°WPisco — 14.34°S, 75.91°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Carcharhiniformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 414 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,039 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Carcharhiniformes and its relatives

Miocene

Where Carcharhiniformes and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

4,479 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 573 sites for Carcharhiniformes, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

595 references

Each of the 4,497 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 583 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Carcharhiniformes

Credit
Apex Predators Program, NOAA/NEFSC
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itGaleomorphii through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Compagno 1973