Bull shark: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the bull shark lives – recorded in 4 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Carcharhinus leucas
Group	Sharks
Status	Vulnerable (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	4 countries
Continents	Africa, North America, Oceania
Class	Cartilaginous fish
Order	Carcharhiniformes
Family	Carcharhinidae

Where does the bull shark live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the bull shark in 4 countries and territories across Africa, North America and Oceania. Wikidata gives its range as: Brazil, Salvaterra, New Guinea.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the bull shark endangered?

The bull shark’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Vulnerable” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the bull shark?

The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) is a cartilaginous fish in the order Carcharhiniformes and the family Carcharhinidae, genus Carcharhinus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the bull shark

The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers. It is known for its aggressive nature, and presence mainly in warm, shallow brackish and freshwater systems including estuaries and (usually) lower reaches of rivers. Their aggressive nature has led to ongoing shark-culling efforts near beaches to protect beachgoers, which is one of the causes of bull shark populations continuing to decrease. Bull sharks are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Bull shark (revision 1378453392), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q190469 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).