Carcharhinus tilstoni (Whitley, 1950)

White, William T. & Ko’Ou, Alfred, 2018, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Papua New Guinea, Zootaxa 4411 (1), pp. 1-82 : 37

Carcharhinus tilstoni (Whitley, 1950)

Australian Blacktip Shark

Galeolamna pleurotaenia tilstoni Whitley, 1950: 100 , Figs. 1 , 2 . Holotype: AMS IB . 2421 (jaws and skin). Type locality: Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, Australia .

Local synonymy: White et al., 2018: 162, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: (2 spec.) CSIRO H 7833-01, juvenile male 540 mm TL, south of Deception Bay, Gulf of Papua, 8°2’19” S, 144°37’12” E, 22–24 m depth, 15 Dec. 2014; CSIRO H 8151-01 (dried jaw), female 800 mm TL, east of Fly River mouth, Gulf of Papua, 8°42’ S, 144°3’ E, 19–22 m depth, 3 Dec. 2014.

Remarks: Previously thought to be an Australian endemic species. Caught in prawn trawl fisheries and by coastal fisheries in PNG, from Western Province to Milne Bay Province and also recently recorded at mouth of Sepik River in East Sepik Province. Very similar and easily misidentified as C. limbatus ; confirmed based on specimens and genetic data (S. Appleyard and G. Naylor, unpubl. data).

Figures

FIGURE 1. The current location of the KFRS collection in the biological sciences area of the University of PNG.

FIGURE 2. Number of museum specimen lots from PNG waters per 5-yearly intervals between 1820 and the present. All museum collections combined; grey bars dnote existing lots; red bars denote lost or destroyed lots.