Carcharhinus porosus

The smalltail shark is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean, from the northern Gulf of Mexico to southern Brazil. It inhabits shallow waters close to shore, particularly over muddy bottoms around estuaries. It tends to swim low in the water column and forms large aggregations segregated by sex. A slim species generally not exceeding 1.1 m (3.6 ft) in length, the smalltail shark has a rather long, pointed snout, a broad, triangular first dorsal fin, and a second dorsal fin that originates over the midpoint of the anal fin base. It is plain gray in color, without prominent markings on its fins.

Carcharhinus porosus

SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC · Public Domain · 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
smalltail sharkPBDB
Sits inside
CarcharhinusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 1.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 13.82 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Miocene — about 4 of 5 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 5 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 5 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.8–9.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.4–9.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.0–8.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.6–8.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.2–7.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.4–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.6–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.1–3.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.7–3.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.3–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.246 Mya5.333 Mya14.3 Mya2.1 Mya

5 occurrences of Carcharhinus porosus 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

5 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

3 formations

Urumaco — 11.21°N, 70.25°WAngostura — 0.98°N, 78.86°WCodore — 11.27°N, 70.28°W

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The named rock units Carcharhinus porosus 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 porosus and its relatives

Miocene

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

Found in the same rock

51 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Carcharhinus porosus, 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

3 references

Each of the 5 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Carcharhinus porosus

Credit
SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Carcharhinus porosus 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. (Ranzani 1839)