List of known sharks

 
 
 

Sharks belong to the superorder Selachimorpha in the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. The Elasmobranchii also include rays and skates; and the Chondrichthyes also include Chimaeras. It is currently thought that the sharks form a polyphyletic group: in particular, some sharks are more closely related to rays than they are to some other sharks.

Listed below are extant species of shark in taxonomic order. Sharks are spread across eight orders, which are listed in roughly evolutionary order (from primitive to modern), and the families and genera within the orders are listed in alphabetical order.

 

  • Hexanchiformes: Examples from this group include the cow sharks, frilled shark and even a shark that looks upon first inspection to be a marine snake.
  • Squaliformes: Examples from this group include the bramble sharks, dogfish sharks and rough sharks, and prickly shark.
  • Pristiophoriformes: These are the sawsharks, with an elongated, toothed snout that they use for slashing the fishes that they subsequently eat.
  • Squatiniformes: They are commonly referred to as Angel sharks.
  • Heterodontiformes: They are commonly referred to as the bullhead or horn sharks.
  • Orectolobiformes: They are commonly referred to as the carpet sharks, including zebra sharks, nurse sharks, wobbegongs and the whale shark.
  • Carcharhiniformes: They are commonly referred to as the groundsharks, and some of the species include the blue, tiger, bull, reef and oceanic whitetip sharks (collectively called the requiem sharks) along with the houndsharks, catsharks and hammerhead sharks.
  • Lamniformes: They are commonly referred to as the mackerel sharks. They include the goblin shark, basking shark, megamouth shark, the thresher sharks, shortfin and longfin mako sharks, and great white shark.

 

Taxonomic listing