Galeocerdo aduncus (Agassiz, 1843)

Höltke, Olaf, Salvador, Rodrigo B. & Rasser, Michael W., 2023, Trophic relationships in the Early Miocene Upper Marine Molasse of Baden-Württemberg, Southwest Germany, with special emphasis on the elasmobranch fauna, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 46) 26 (3), pp. 1-38 : 36

Galeocerdo aduncus (Agassiz, 1843)

Tooth type: Cutting

The only extant congener is G. cuvier (Péron and Lesueur, 1822) , an omnivorous opportunistic feeder that eats crabs, lobsters, horseshoe crabs, gastropods, cephalopods, jellyfish, bony fishes, other elasmobranchs, sea turtles, sea snakes, marine mammals, marine birds, and even carrion of terrestrial mammals (Schwartz, 2000; Ebert, 2003; Dicken et al., 2017; Estupiñán-Montaño et al., 2017). Like in other elasmobranch taxa, diet of G. cuvier changes as the animal grows, shifting from bony fishes and cephalopods in juveniles to larger prey items as size increases (Ebert 2003). Large specimens mostly consume elasmobranchs, sea turtles, marine mammals, sea birds and crustaceans (Ebert 2003). The living tiger shark has a TL of 4.1 (Cortés, 1999), living from the intertidal zone to 1136 m depth, moving closer inshore at night but retreating into deeper waters offshore during daytime (Ebert, 2003; Ebert et al., 2021).