Carcharias
Carcharias is a genus of sand tiger sharks belonging to the family Odontaspididae. Once bearing many prehistoric species, all have gone extinct with the exception of the critically endangered sand tiger shark.
Differentiating species of sharks is usually done by locating and measuring their fins. The second dorsal fin and the anal fin of Carcharias are very large. In fact, they are about equal in size. The pectoral fins are triangular and only slightly larger than the dorsal fins. The teeth are very long and narrow with sharp points. The teeth are smooth with no ridges. The tail is one third of the entire body size.[2]
Sand tiger sharks live in water depths ranging from 0 to 190 meters. They are found in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. They are commonly found in surf zones.[3]
With the Latin name meaning “shark”, many species extant today have been placed into this genus before they were moved to different genera and orders.
Extinct species within this genus lived from the Cretaceous period to the Quaternary period (from 99.7 to 0.012 Ma). Fossils have been found all over the world, especially in the Miocene and Oligocene sediments of Europe, the United States and Australia, in the Eocene of Egypt, Europe and the United States, as well as in the Cretaceous of Australia, Canada, the United States, Europe and Africa.[12] Species from the fossil record include:[12]
