Carcharhinus perezi

The Caribbean reef shark is a species of requiem shark, belonging to the family Carcharhinidae. It is found in the tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Brazil, and is the most commonly encountered reef shark in the Caribbean Sea. With a robust, streamlined body typical of the requiem sharks, this species is difficult to tell apart from other large members of its family such as the dusky shark and the silky shark. Distinguishing characteristics include dusky-colored fins without prominent markings, a short free rear tip on the second dorsal fin, and tooth shape and number.

Carcharhinus perezi

Albert Kok3 · CC0 · 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
Caribbean reef sharkPBDB
Sits inside
CarcharhinusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 12 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 22 occurrencesMiocene — about 18 of 22 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 22 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 22 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–16 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.2–8.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.5–7.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences7.1–6.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.4–5.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.7–4.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.9–4.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.2–3.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.5–2.8 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15.98 Mya3.6 Mya23.5 Mya2.1 Mya

22 occurrences of Carcharhinus perezi on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

22 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

11 formations

Pirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WCantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WGatun — 9.34°N, 79.88°WArenas de Huelva — 37.33°N, 6.68°WCastillo — 10.37°N, 70.05°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCarrillo Puerto — 21.17°N, 89.19°WArgille Azzurre — 43.31°N, 11.49°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Carcharhinus perezi 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 perezi and its relatives

Miocene

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

Found in the same rock

1,143 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Carcharhinus perezi, 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

12 references

Each of the 22 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 perezi

Credit
Albert Kok3
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Carcharhinus perezi was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itCarcharhinus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Poey 1876)