Prionace glauca

The blue shark, also known as the great blue shark, is a species of requiem shark in the family Carcharhinidae which inhabits deep waters in the world's temperate and tropical oceans. It is the only living species of genus Prionace. An extinct species, P. clarki, is known from teeth from California of the Late Pliocene. Averaging around 3.1 m (10 ft) and preferring cooler waters, the blue shark migrates long distances, such as from New England to South America. It is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.

Prionace glauca

Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
blue sharkPBDB
Sits inside
PrionacePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 3 of 14 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 14 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 6 of 14 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 14 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence404 ka–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences7.246 Mya11.7 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

14 occurrences of Prionace glauca on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

14 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

8 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WBahía Inglesa — 27.14°S, 70.88°WBahía Inglesa — 27.16°S, 70.89°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ETirabuzón — 27.37°N, 112.29°WDeist — 51.19°N, 4.46°ESan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.29°WTimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°WArgille Azzurre — 43.31°N, 11.49°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Prionace glauca has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Prionace glauca and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Prionace glauca and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

979 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Prionace glauca, and this reads all of them. 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

13 references

Each of the 14 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. 1 further reference is 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 Prionace glauca

Credit
Diego Delso
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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
Prionace Glauca · Vouchered object contributed by Ross Williams

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itPrionace through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)