New Guinea river shark

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New Guinea river shark
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Chondrichthyes Subclass: Elasmobranchii Order: Carcharhiniformes Family: Carcharhinidae Genus: Glyphis Species: G. sp. C
Binomial name
Glyphis sp. C

The New Guinea river shark, Glyphis sp. C, is a scientifically undescribed shark of the family Carcharhinidae. Only nine specimens have ever been collected: an immature female taken about 100 km up the Adelaide River, Northern Territory, Australia, in 1989; an adult male taken some 60 km up the South Alligator River, Papua New Guinea, in 1996; and in 1999, five females and two males from the East, West and South Alligator Rivers, in brackish water with salinity ranging from 6 to 26 ppt. Its length is thought to be up to 2 m.

The rare and little-known New Guinea river shark is large and slender with a rather flat head. It has a broadly rounded short snout and tiny eyes. The anal fin has a deeply concave posterior margin. Coloration is an unpatterned grey.

Reproduction is viviparous, with three to eight pups per litter.

[edit] References

• Compagno, Dando, & Fowler, Sharks of the World, Princeton University Press, New Jersey 2005 ISBN 0-691-12072-2
• Pogonoski, J. & Pollard, D. 2003. Glyphis sp. nov. C. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 03 August 2007.