Carcharhinus limbatus

The blacktip shark is a species of requiem shark in the family Carcharhinidae. It is common to coastal tropical and subtropical waters around the world, including brackish habitats. Genetic analyses have revealed substantial variation within this species, with populations from the western Atlantic Ocean isolated and distinct from those in the rest of its range. The blacktip shark has a stout, fusiform body with a pointed snout, long gill slits, and no ridge between the dorsal fins. Most individuals have black tips or edges on the pectoral, dorsal, pelvic, and caudal fins. It usually attains a length of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).

Carcharhinus limbatus

Albert kok · 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
blacktip sharkPBDB
Sits inside
CarcharhinusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 7 of 13 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 13 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 13 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.8–9.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.1–8.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.4–7.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.7–7.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.0–6.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.3–5.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.6–4.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.1–1.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.4–698 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences698 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence15.98 Mya129 ka20.9 Mya0 Mya

13 occurrences of Carcharhinus limbatus 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

13 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

10 formations

Urumaco — 11.24°N, 70.25°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ETirabuzón — 27.37°N, 112.29°WTamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WLiuchungchi — 23.44°N, 120.59°ECantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WPort Morant — 17.87°N, 76.32°W

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The named rock units Carcharhinus limbatus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Carcharhinus limbatus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Carcharhinus limbatus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

479 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Carcharhinus limbatus, 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

11 references

Each of the 13 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. 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 Carcharhinus limbatus

Credit
Albert kok
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Carcharhinus limbatus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itCarcharhinus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Valenciennes 1839)