78 articles
Alopias pelagicus
Alopias pelagicus, the pelagic thresher shark (Nakamura 1935), an Endangered Indo-Pacific thresher with a tail nearly as long as its body, two pups per litter, and slow growth; distinct from A. vulpinus and A. superciliosus.
Alopias superciliosus
Alopias superciliosus, the bigeye thresher shark (tiburón zorro ojón), a large pelagic Alopiidae shark with helmet-like head grooves and upward eyes; Vulnerable IUCN, declining 30–49% over three generations, CITES Appendix II.
Atlantic manta ray
Atlantic manta ray (Mobula yarae), third recognized manta species, formally described July 2025; Atlantic-only range from the eastern US and Gulf of Mexico to Brazil; differs from Mobula birostris in ventral spots, denticles, tooth rows, and DNA; Florida nursery.
Basking shark
Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), second largest living fish after the whale shark; one of three plankton-feeding sharks. Ram filter-feeds on copepods at the surface, migrates across hemispheres, IUCN Vulnerable, CITES Appendix II.
Blacktip reef shark
Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus), also blackfin reef shark, a shallow-water Indo-Pacific requiem shark with black-tipped fins, to 1.8 m, live-bearing with 2-4 pups; distinct from the Atlantic blacktip shark C. limbatus.
Blacktip shark
Blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus), a warm-temperate to tropical requiem shark with black-tipped fins and a white anal fin, distinct from the blacktip reef shark; Near Threatened globally, rebuilt in the US Atlantic in 2003.
Blue shark
The blue shark (Prionace glauca) is a large, slender pelagic shark of open temperate and tropical oceans worldwide, recognized by vivid blue coloration and long pectoral fins.
Bluntnose sixgill shark
Bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus), a large deepwater cow shark with six gill slits and one dorsal fin, up to 4.8 m, IUCN Near Threatened, Salish Sea pupping grounds.
Bull shark
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), also Zambezi or Nicaragua shark: a large euryhaline requiem shark, to 400 cm, that enters rivers and estuaries; IUCN Vulnerable (2021) with a suspected 30–49% population decline over three generations.
Carcharhiniformes
Carcharhiniformes (ground sharks), the largest shark order: 8 families, 51 genera, 337+ species including requiem sharks, hammerheads, tiger shark, and catsharks; diagnosed by nictitating lower eyelids, two spineless dorsal fins, and an anal fin.
Carcharhinus falciformis
Carcharhinus falciformis, the silky shark (Bibron, 1839), a circumtropical pelagic requiem shark up to 3.5 m, IUCN Vulnerable, CITES Appendix II since 2017, heavily fished for fins and tuna-fishery bycatch.
Carcharhinus perezii
Carcharhinus perezii, the Caribbean reef shark (also spelled C. perezi), a large requiem shark of western Atlantic coral reefs from North Carolina to Brazil; IUCN Endangered (2021), biennial reproduction, 3-6 pups, CITES Appendix II.
Carcharhinus plumbeus
Carcharhinus plumbeus, the sandbar shark, also called thickskin or brown shark, is a requiem shark up to 8 feet long found in coastal waters worldwide.
Carcharodon hastalis
Carcharodon hastalis, also called Isurus or Cosmopolitodus hastalis, is an extinct lamnid shark of the Miocene and Pliocene (about 20 to 3 million years ago) with smooth, unserrated teeth 2.5 to 7.5 cm tall, regarded by many as the ancestor of the great white shark.
Chimaera
Chimaeras (ghost sharks, ratfish) are deep-water cartilaginous fishes of subclass Holocephali, order Chimaeriformes, with one gill opening per side, crushing tooth plates, and a fossil record back about 400 million years; not sharks despite the ghost shark name.
Chimaera monstrosa
Chimaera monstrosa, the rabbitfish or rat fish, a deep-water chimaera of the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean upper continental slope (200–700 m), IUCN Vulnerable A2bd due to trawl bycatch.
Chondrichthyes
Chondrichthyes, the cartilaginous fishes, includes sharks, skates, rays, and chimaeras (Elasmobranchii and Holocephali). Cartilage skeletons, Ordovician-scale fossil record, 1,188+ species, over one-third threatened by overfishing.
Coniunctio
Coniunctio is an extinct Triassic elasmobranch (cartilaginous fish) genus established by Johns in 1997, known from ichthyoliths in British Columbia, with species C. aequirugosa (type) and C. multirugosa, defining a Ladinian biozone.
Cookiecutter shark
Cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis), cigar shark, a small mesopelagic squaliform shark of tropical and subtropical oceans that removes plugs of flesh from large prey, leaving crater wounds; feeds mainly on small micronekton, bioluminescent, has bitten swimmers and submarines.
Cow shark
Cow sharks (Hexanchidae), also called sixgill and sevengill sharks, are deepwater Hexanchiformes with 6 or 7 gill slits, one rear dorsal fin, an anal fin, and saw-like lower teeth; four species, 1.4 to 4.8 m, ovoviviparous.
Dasyatidae
Dasyatidae, whiptail stingrays, is a family of Myliobatiformes rays with a rounded disc, whip-like tail, and venomous sting. Revised in 2016 into four subfamilies and 18 genera; primarily marine, circumglobal.
Dasyatis pastinaca
Dasyatis pastinaca, the common stingray or blue stingray, is a whiptail stingray of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, benthic to 200 m, ovoviviparous, venomous-spined, and IUCN Vulnerable.
Dipturus
Dipturus, longnosed skates, is a genus of Rajidae skates established by Rafinesque 1810 with type species Raja batis; about 41 species in Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, including the critically endangered common skate.
Egg case (Chondrichthyes)
Egg case (Chondrichthyes), also called mermaid's purse: the keratin capsule laid by oviparous sharks, skates, and chimaeras, usually holding one yolk-nourished embryo; skate cases with horns form dense nurseries where embryos may develop up to five years.
Elasmobranchii
Elasmobranchii, the elasmobranchs or strap-gills, is the cartilaginous fish subclass of sharks, rays, skates, and sawfish, excluding chimaeras; cartilage skeletons, unfused upper jaws, exposed gill slits, and about 37% of species threatened.
Electric ray
Electric rays (Torpediniformes), about 60 species of batoid fishes, produce electric organ discharges up to 220 V to stun prey and repel sharks; fossils known only from Cenozoic deposits, notably Bolca.
Frilled shark
Frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus), a rare deepwater Hexanchiformes shark with six frilly gill slits, three-cusped teeth, eel-like body to 2 m, 120–1500 m depth, Near Threatened, gestation possibly 3.5 years.
Galapagos shark
Galapagos shark (Carcharhinus galapagensis), a large requiem shark of oceanic islands worldwide; described 1905, viviparous, IUCN Near Threatened (2003) with local declines from fishing.
Galeorhinus galeus
Galeorhinus galeus, the tope, school, or soupfin shark, a temperate houndshark (Triakidae) of all major oceans; six isolated subpopulations, IUCN Critically Endangered 2020, CMS Appendix II, proposed US ESA threatened listing 2026.
Galeus melastomus
Galeus melastomus, the blackmouth catshark (Rafinesque, 1810), a deepwater Pentanchidae shark of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, dark-mouthed, spotted, to 90 cm, oviparous, IUCN Least Concern.