Carcharias taurus

The sand tiger shark, also commonly known as the spotted ragged-tooth shark in South Africa, grey nurse shark in Australia, or blue-nurse sand tiger in India, is a species of shark that inhabits subtropical and temperate waters worldwide. It inhabits the continental shelf, from sandy shorelines and submerged reefs to a depth of around 191 m (627 ft). They dwell in the waters of Japan, Australia, South Africa, and the east coasts of North and South America. The sand tiger shark also inhabited the Mediterranean; however, it was last seen there in 2003 and is presumed extirpated. Despite its common names, it is not closely related to either the tiger shark or the nurse shark.

Carcharias taurus

Bryce Watts-Parker · CC BY 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
sand tiger sharkPBDB
Sits inside
CarchariasPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 2 of 71 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 71 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 38 of 71 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 16 of 71 occurrencesPleistocene — about 10 of 71 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.8–8.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 9 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

71 occurrences of Carcharias taurus 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

71 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

32 formations

Arenas de Huelva — 37.33°N, 6.68°WArenas de Huelva — 37.35°N, 6.61°WArenas de Huelva — 37.27°N, 6.84°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.28°WLagos-Portimão — 37.12°N, 8.54°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.67°WGlobigerina Limestone — 36.08°N, 14.24°EGlobigerina Limestone — 35.90°N, 14.33°EJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°EJan Juc — 38.20°S, 144.27°EAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WPisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 14.35°S, 75.89°WLuanda — 8.76°S, 13.30°EBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.44°EBhuban — 23.75°N, 92.68°EYorktown — 33.79°N, 77.65°WYorktown — 33.58°N, 77.42°WPort Campbell Limestone — 37.72°S, 141.93°EBatesford Limestone — 38.09°S, 144.28°EBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.99°S, 145.04°EFossil Bluff Sandstone — 40.98°S, 145.73°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WCalcarenites of Sant Elm — 39.92°N, 3.06°ECojímar — 23.10°N, 82.23°WArcadia — 27.29°N, 82.53°WBlue Clay — 35.93°N, 14.34°EGrand Bay — 12.48°N, 61.43°WParana — 32.08°S, 60.49°WMiramar — 5.19°S, 80.63°WWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°W

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The named rock units Carcharias taurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 23 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Carcharias taurus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Carcharias taurus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,408 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 69 sites for Carcharias taurus, 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

49 references

Each of the 71 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. 37 further references are 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 Carcharias taurus

Credit
Bryce Watts-Parker
Licence
CC BY 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
Carcharias taurus · L-MEP:SndTg221_221.0FL_female

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itCarcharias through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Rafinesque 1810)