Carcharias

Carcharias, also known as sand tiger sharks, is a genus of mackerel sharks belonging to the family Carchariidae, of which it is the only extant member. Once bearing many prehistoric species, all have gone extinct with the exception of the critically endangered sand tiger shark.

Carcharias

Richard Ling · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
sand sharkPBDB
Sits inside
CarchariidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 121 million years on record.

The record covers at least 121.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 125.77 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 4 of 898 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 233 of 898 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 67 of 898 occurrencesEocene — about 212 of 898 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 70 of 898 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 249 of 898 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 41 of 898 occurrencesPleistocene — about 19 of 898 occurrences128–124 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences124–120 Mya — about 1 occurrence107–103 Mya — about 2 occurrences103–98 Mya — about 3 occurrences98–94 Mya — about 5 occurrences94–90 Mya — about 6 occurrences90–86 Mya — about 2 occurrences86–81 Mya — about 34 occurrences81–77 Mya — about 44 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 44 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 59 occurrences68–64 Mya — about 46 occurrences64–60 Mya — about 20 occurrences60–56 Mya — about 39 occurrences56–51 Mya — about 32 occurrences51–47 Mya — about 35 occurrences47–43 Mya — about 44 occurrences43–38 Mya — about 39 occurrences38–34 Mya — about 55 occurrences34–30 Mya — about 34 occurrences30–26 Mya — about 28 occurrences26–21 Mya — about 29 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 55 occurrences17–13 Mya — about 97 occurrences13–8.6 Mya — about 44 occurrences8.6–4.3 Mya — about 54 occurrences4.3–0 Mya — about 45 occurrences121.4 Mya11.7 ka128 Mya0 Mya

898 occurrences of Carcharias 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

898 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

263 formations

London Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.62°N, 0.07°WLondon Clay — 51.60°N, 0.19°WLondon Clay — 51.54°N, 0.16°WLondon Clay — 51.27°N, 0.40°WLondon Clay — 51.37°N, 1.08°ELondon Clay — 51.83°N, 1.25°ELondon Clay — 51.53°N, 0.70°ELondon Clay — 51.42°N, 0.75°WLondon Clay — 51.25°N, 0.93°WLondon Clay — 51.90°N, 1.62°WLondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.65°WLondon Clay — 50.88°N, 1.30°WLondon Clay — 50.93°N, 1.48°WLondon Clay — 50.80°N, 1.67°WLondon Clay — 51.07°N, 1.74°WFox Hills — 46.26°N, 100.55°WFox Hills — 46.28°N, 100.52°WFox Hills — 46.05°N, 103.88°WFox Hills — 46.47°N, 99.58°WFox Hills — 46.38°N, 100.85°WFox Hills — 46.10°N, 100.42°WFox Hills — 46.42°N, 100.74°WFox Hills — 46.30°N, 100.33°WFox Hills — 46.30°N, 100.39°WFox Hills — 46.03°N, 100.78°WFox Hills — 46.22°N, 103.99°WFox Hills — 46.11°N, 103.90°WFox Hills — 46.38°N, 100.32°WFox Hills — 46.41°N, 100.86°WFox Hills — 46.29°N, 100.18°WFox Hills — 44.52°N, 102.39°WMesaverde — 44.08°N, 107.74°WMesaverde — 44.10°N, 107.75°WMesaverde — 44.17°N, 107.81°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WNavesink — 40.35°N, 74.17°WNavesink — 40.33°N, 74.26°WNavesink — 40.38°N, 74.21°WAquia — 40.35°N, 74.25°WAquia — 38.42°N, 77.26°WAquia — 38.45°N, 77.25°WAquia — 38.39°N, 77.52°WAquia — 38.34°N, 77.27°WAquia — 38.50°N, 77.59°WAquia — 38.71°N, 77.02°WAquia — 38.58°N, 77.17°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.44°EMount Laurel — 40.26°N, 74.27°WMount Laurel — 40.38°N, 74.21°WMount Laurel — 39.56°N, 75.63°WNanjemoy — 38.43°N, 77.18°WNanjemoy — 38.40°N, 76.99°WNanjemoy — 38.87°N, 78.51°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WNanjemoy — 38.38°N, 77.06°WNanjemoy — 37.29°N, 77.24°WMarshalltown — 40.30°N, 74.30°WMarshalltown — 39.55°N, 75.65°WBarton Clay — 50.74°N, 1.69°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.45°N, 1.36°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.53°N, 0.70°WNewhaven Chalk — 50.88°N, 0.81°WNewhaven Chalk — 50.67°N, 1.10°WMenuha — 30.50°N, 34.65°EMenuha — 30.56°N, 34.64°EMenuha — 30.58°N, 34.90°EBoom — 50.84°N, 5.23°EBoom — 51.09°N, 4.36°EBoom — 51.11°N, 4.33°EWaipara Greensand — 43.05°S, 172.62°EWaipara Greensand — 43.12°S, 172.48°EGehannam — 29.31°N, 30.18°EGehannam — 29.36°N, 30.16°EGehannam — 29.32°N, 30.07°ESables de Bracheux — 49.58°N, 2.65°ESables de Bracheux — 49.53°N, 2.75°ENavidad — 33.91°S, 71.84°WNavidad — 33.99°S, 71.89°WTavda — 55.34°N, 65.35°ETavda — 56.70°N, 63.15°EDinosaur Park — 50.81°N, 111.32°WDinosaur Park — 50.68°N, 108.09°WDinosaur Park — 50.78°N, 111.36°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WBarton Beds — 50.74°N, 1.69°WBarton Beds — 50.85°N, 1.78°WJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°EJan Juc — 38.20°S, 144.27°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Carcharias has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 239 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 235 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Carcharias and its relatives

Miocene

Where Carcharias and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

3,672 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 639 sites for Carcharias, 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

336 references

Each of the 898 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. 324 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 content3

Picture of Carcharias

Credit
Richard Ling
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Carcharias taurus · L-MEP:SndTg221_221.0FL_female

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itCarchariidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Rafinesque 1810)