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