Sand tiger shark: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

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

Scientific name	Carcharias taurus
Group	Sharks
Status	Critically endangered (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	4 countries
Continents	Africa, North America, Oceania, South America
Class	Cartilaginous fish
Order	Lamniformes
Family	Odontaspididae

Where does the sand tiger shark live?

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

The sand tiger shark’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Critically endangered” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the sand tiger shark?

The sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) is a cartilaginous fish in the order Lamniformes and the family Odontaspididae, genus Carcharias. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the sand tiger shark

The sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus), also commonly known as the spotted ragged-tooth shark in South Africa, grey nurse shark in Australia, or blue-nurse sand tiger in India, is a species of shark that inhabits subtropical and temperate waters worldwide. It inhabits the continental shelf, from sandy shorelines (hence the name sand tiger shark) and submerged reefs to a depth of around 191 m (627 ft). They dwell in the waters of East Asia, Australia, Western and Southern Africa, the Red sea, and the east coasts of North and South America. The sand tiger shark also inhabited the Mediterranean; however, it was last seen there in 2003 and is presumed extirpated. Despite its common names, it is not closely related to either the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) or the nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum).

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Sand tiger shark (revision 1379505943), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q625161 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).