g8 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Family CARCHARIIDAE 

 Sand Sharks 



Characters. Two dorsal fins, the ist much shorter than caudal, the rear end of 

 its base over or anterior to origin of pelvics; caudal not more than Vs of total length, not 

 lunate, its lower anterior corner expanded as a distinct lobe, its axis raised but little j caudal 

 peduncle not greatly depressed or expanded laterally 5 a precaudal pit above but none 

 below; sides of trunk, anterior to anal, without longitudinal dermal ridges; inner margins 

 of pelvics more or less united posterior to cloaca in male, less so in female; jaws not 

 greatly protrusible; snout not greatly elongate; 5th gill opening anterior to origin of pec- 

 toral; gill arches without rakers, not interconnected by a sieve of modified denticles; nos- 

 trils entirely separate from mouth, their anterior margins without barbels; spiracles pres- 

 ent; lower eyelid without nictitating fold or membrane; teeth large, awl-shaped, with or 

 without lateral denticles and not very numerous (see counts, p. 102); skull of normal 

 form {i.e., not greatly expanded laterally); rostral cartilages united in one; mesoptery- 

 gium of pectoral with about ^2 as many radials as metapterygium, and nearly as large; 

 meso- and metapterygia not separated by foramen. Development ovoviviparous. 



Genera. Only one modern genus, Carcharias, so far known. 



Genus Carcharias Rafinesque, 18 10 

 Sand Sharks 

 Carcharias Rafinesque, Caratt. Gen. Nuov. Sicil., 1810: lO; type species, C. taurus Rafinesque. Sicily.'' 



Generic Synonyms: 



Squalus (in part) Risso, Ichthyol. Nice, 1810: 38; for S. ferox; also subs, authors; not Squalus Linnaeus, 1758. 



Galeorhinus (in part) Blainville, Bull. Soc. philom. Paris, 1 8 16: 121; for G. ferox. 



Oiontasfis Agassiz, Poiss. Foss., 1838: 5, 87; type species, Carcharias ferox Risso, 1826, equals Squalus ferox 



Risso, 1 810. 

 Triglockis Miiller and Henle, Arch. Naturg., 1837: 396; type species, Carcharias ferox Risso, 1826, equals 



Squalus ferox Risso, i 8 1 0. 

 Eugotnfhodus Gill, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Phllad., Addend., 1 861: 60; type species, Carcharias griseus Storer, 



1846, equals Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, i8lO; monotypic. 

 SynoJontasfns White, Vert. Faun. Engl. Eocene, 193 1 : 51 ; type species, Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1 8 10. 

 Paradontasfis White, Vert. Faun. Engl. Eocene, 1 931: 63; type species, Odontasfis flatensis Lahille, 1928.'^ 



Generic Characters. Caudal peduncle with a well marked pit above (none below) 

 and without lateral keels; dermal denticles with 3 broad longitudinal ridges; snout coni- 

 cal; jaws with or without labial furrows; anterior teeth in both jaws two-rooted, the pos- 

 terior teeth less obviously so; spiracle small; 2nd dorsal about as large as ist; caudal with 

 small but definitely outlined lower anterior lobe and well marked subterminal notch. 

 Characters otherwise those of the family. 



11. Opinion 47 of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (Smithson. Publ., 2060, 1912: 108; 

 Copeia, 29, 1916: 28) confirms Carc/mrias taurus Rafinesque, 1810, as the type of Carcharias Rafinesque, iSio; it 

 thus replaces Odontaspis Agassiz. 



12. The fossil genus Oxytes Giebel, Fauna Vorwelt, Fische, 1847: 364, type species, O. obliqua Giebel (monotypic), 

 is referred to the synonymy of Carcharias by Fowler (Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 100 [15], 1941 : 119). 



