Carcharhinidae Jordan & Evermann 1896

Angulo, Arturo, Betts, Joel T., González-Alemán, Néstor J., Castañeda, Edgar, Berghe, Eric Van Den, Elías, Diego J., Mcmahan, Caleb D. & Matamoros, Wilfredo A., 2023, Continental fishes of Nicaragua: diversity, distribution and conservation status; with an annotated and illustrated checklist of species and an identification guide to families, Zootaxa 5376 (1), pp. 1-89 : 10

Family Carcharhinidae Jordan & Evermann 1896 ( Fig. 2A ).

Requiem Sharks, Blue Sharks, Lemon Sharks, Sharpnose Sharks, Tiger Sharks, Whitenose Sharks, Whitetip Sharks; Cazones, Tintoreras, Tiburones

Description: Body elongate and robust; up to 740 cm in length; nostrils without barbels or grooves; nictitating eyelids internal; mouth large, arched, extends well behind eyes; teeth of variable sizes, blade-like; spiracles usually absent; five gill slits, the last two over the pectoral fin base; intestine with scroll valve, lacking spiral valve; two dorsal fins, with margins undulated; pelvic fins modified as copulatory organs in males; precaudal pit present; caudal fin strongly asymmetrical, with the lower lobe well developed and the upper lobe with an undulating ridge along its top edge and a notch under its tip ( Robertson & Allen 2015, Nelson et al. 2016). Distribution: Marine, occasionally in freshwater rivers and lakes, tropical to warm temperate, continental and insular shelves and slopes and oceanic; Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans (Nelson et al. 2016). One genus and one species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Families of continental fishes of Nicaragua, part 1; Carcharhinidae (A), Pristidae (B), Dasyatidae (C), Potamotrygonidae (D), Lepisosteidae (E), Elopidae (F), Megalopidae (G), Ophichthidae (H), Anguillidae (I), Engraulidae (J), Pristigasteridae (K), Dorosomatidae (L) and Cyprinidae (M). Illustrations adapted (with permission) from Nelson et al. (2016) and Angulo et al. (2021).