Requiem sharks refers to all members of the family Carcharhinidae: this includes migratory, live-bearing sharks of warm seas (sometimes of brackish or fresh water) such as the tiger shark, the blue shark, the bull shark, and the milk shark. The name comes from the French word for shark, "requin". [2]
Family members have the usual carcharhiniform characteristics. The eyes are round, and the pectoral fins are completely behind the five gill slits. Most species are viviparous, the young being born fully developed. They vary widely in size, from as little as 69 centimetres (2.3 ft) adult length in the Australian sharpnose shark, up to 7.5 metres (25 ft) adult length in the tiger shark.[1]
Requiem sharks are responsible for a large proportion of attacks on humans. However; due to the difficulty in identifying individual species, there is a degree of inaccuracy in attack records.[3]
[edit] Classification
There are 52 species of requiem shark, grouped into 12 genera:[1]
Family Carcharhinidae
- Subfamily Galeocerdinae
- Subfamily Scoliodontinae
- Genus Scoliodon - Spadenose shark (1 species)
- Subfamily Carcharhininae
- Tribe Carcharhinini
- Tribe Rhizoprionodontini
- Tribe Isogomphodontini
- Tribe Triaenodontini
- Genus Triaenodon - Whitetip reef shark (1 species)
[edit] Taxonomic note
Carcharhinidae may be a superfamily, divided into Galeocerdidae, Isogomphodontidae, Rhizoprionodontidae, Scoliodontidae, Triaenodontidae, and Carcharhinidae.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
