Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos ( Bleeker, 1856 )

White, William T. & Ko’Ou, Alfred, 2018, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Papua New Guinea, Zootaxa 4411 (1), pp. 1-82 : 32

Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos ( Bleeker, 1856)

Grey Reef Shark

Carcharias (Prionodon) amblyrhynchos Bleeker, 1856: 467 . Holotype: RMNH 7377 (head and skin). Type locality: near Solombo Island , Java Sea, Indonesia.

Local synonymy: Galeolamna tufiensis Whitley, 1949a: 24 (off Tufi Harbour)—Whitley, 1949b: 345 (Papua); Whitley, 1951: 389, fig. 1 (Tufi, Port Moresby). Carcharhinus tufiensis— Munro, 1958: 112 (Port Moresby and Tufi); Munro, 1967: 10, pl. 1, fig. 10 (New Guinea). Carcharhinus tjutjot— Filewood, 1973: 5 (Papua New Guinea). Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos— Garrick, 1982: 106 (Papua; off Tufi Harbour; Port Moresby); Allen, 1998: 67 (Milne Bay); Compagno, 1984: 460 (PNG); Kailola, 1987: 14 (PNG); Gochfeld, 1996: 43 (southern New Ireland); Allen et al., 2003: 112 (Milne Bay); Hamilton et al., 2009: 73 (northern Bismarck Archipelago); Fricke et al., 2014: 14 (Madang); White et al., 2018: 132, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: (19 spec.) AMS IB.2334 (holotype of Galeolamna tufiensis ; teeth only), 1473 mm TL, off Tufi Harbour, 9°05’ S, 149°20’E, 1 Oct. 1948; CSIRO C 1677 (paratype of Galeolamna tufiensis ; jaws), juvenile male 673 mm TL, CSIRO C 1918 (paratype of Galeolamna tufiensis ; chondrocranium, teeth and shagreen), juvenile male 738 mm TL, off Tufi Harbour, 9°05’ S, 149°20’E, 1 Oct. 1948; CSIRO C 41 (head only), off Tufi Harbour, 9°05’ S, 149°20’E, 1 Oct. 1948; CSIRO H 7838-01, juvenile male 730 mm TL, Gulf of Papua, 2014; KFRS E.047D (dried jaws), male, Cape Saint George, New Ireland, May 1965; KFRS E.0263 (dried jaws), male 778 mm TL, New Britain, Sep. 1966; KFRS E.316 (dried jaws), Tuma Island, Trobriand Islands, 30 Jul. 1967; KFRS E.324 (dried jaws), Vakuta, Trobriand Islands, 6 Aug. 1967; KFRS E.325B (dried jaws), KFRS E.325C (dried jaws), Nukuana Reef, Milne Bay Province, ~8°31’15” S, 150°13’14” E, 21 Jul. 1967; KFRS E.363, embryo male 245 mm TL, Bougainville, 50 m depth, 2 Aug. 1969; KFRS E.365 (dried jaws), Orangerie Bay, Jun. 1967; KFRS E.370A (dried jaws), KFRS E.370B (dried jaws), Numa Numa, Bougainville, Aug. 1969; KFRS E.464 (dried jaws), Hein Island, Umboi Island, Siassi Group, 5 May 1968; KFRS E.716, juvenile male 710 mm TL, Gulf of Papua, 2014; USNM 39991, juvenile male 610 mm TL, Port Moresby; ZMB D 2461 (dried upper jaw), Bismarck Archipelago, Nov./ Dec. 1909.

Remarks: First recorded from PNG by Whitley (1949a) who described it as a new species, Galeolamna tufiensis ; considered a junior synonym of Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos by Garrick (1982). Common throughout PNG and regularly caught in longline and coastal fisheries. Filewood (1973) listed the species C. tjutjot (= ” menisorrah ) Reef Whaler which is characterised by having a more pointed snout than C. leucas , precaudal vertebrae more than 100, sometimes a fine interdorsal ridge, lower teeth cusps moderately slender; these characters align with C. amblyrhynchos and, more importantly, 8 of the dried jaws identified as this species deposited KFRS from Filewood’s collection had the identification of Carcharhinus tjutjot on the label. Carcharhinus tjutjot belongs to the dussumieri -sealei group and C. menisorrah is also a name previously attributed to this group; the only member of this group in PNG is Carcharhinus coatesi (see further detail below).