Galeocerdo cuvier, : Smith, 1949

Ebert, David A., Wintner, Sabine P. & Kyne, Peter M., 2021, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of South Africa, Zootaxa 4947 (1), pp. 1-127 : 68

Galeocerdo cuvier (Péron & Lesueur in Lesueur, 1822)

Tiger Shark

Squalus cuvier Péron & Lesueur in Lesueur, 1822: 351. No types known. Type locality: northwestern Australia.

Local synonymy: Galeocerdo arcticus : Barnard, 1925: 27. Galeocerdo cuvier : Smith, 1949a: 44, pl. 1.; Smith, 1965: 44, pl. 1; Compagno, 1984b: 503, fig.; Bass et al., 1986: 78, fig. 9.19, pl. 2; Cliff & Wilson, 1986: 12; Compagno, 1988a: 7; Compagno et al., 1989: 60, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 120; Heemstra & Heemstra, 2004: 60; Compagno et al., 2005: 308, fig., pl. 50; Ebert et al., 2013 a: 477, fig., pl. 61; Mann, 2013: 40; NPOA, 2013: 43; Ebert & Dando, 2014: 25, fig.; da Silva et al., 2015: 246; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 146; Weigmann, 2016: 859. Galeocerdo cuvieri : D’Aubrey, 1964a: 19, pl. 6; Bass et al., 1975b: 35, fig. 21.

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 1505, SAIAB 6256, SAIAB 13191, SAIAB 16729, SAIAB 19429.

South African distribution: Cape St. Francis (EC) to the KZN border with Mozambique.

Remarks: Galeocerdo cuvier previously had been placed in the family Carcharhinidae but the species has a number of distinct morphological characteristics, including very long upper labial furrows reaching to eye level, strong keels on caudal peduncle, an obvious spiracle, and a yolk-sac viviparous reproductive mode, which clearly separates it from that family. Molecular research supports its assignment into its own family ( White et al., 2018; G.J.P. Naylor, unpubl. data). The species was first reported in South African waters (as G. rayneri ) by Robinson (1920, Natal Fisheries Report for 1919, p. 50) and was quoted by Barnard (1925), stating that large specimens of this shark are caught with handlines off Durban’s North Pier.

Conservation status: NT (2019).