Carpet shark

Carpet sharks
Temporal range: Late Jurassic–Recent[1]
Spotted wobbegong, Orectolobus maculatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Superorder: Selachimorpha
Order: Orectolobiformes
Applegate, 1972
Families

See text

The carpet sharks are an order, Orectolobiformes, of sharks, so called because many members have ornate patterns reminiscent of carpets.

Carpet sharks have two dorsal fins, without spines, and a small mouth that is forward of the eyes. Many have barbels and small gill slits, with the fifth slit overlapping the fourth. The upper lobe of the caudal fin tends to be mostly in line with the body, while the lower lobe is poorly developed, except in the case of the whale shark. While many in the order are small, the whale shark is the largest living fish.

Contents

Classification

The order is small, with only around 43 species in seven families in 13 genera:

Order Orectolobiformes

See also

References

  1. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). "Orectolobiformes" in FishBase. February 2011 version.
  2. ^ a b Allen & Erdmann (2008). "Two new species of bamboo sharks (Orectolobiformes: Hemiscylliidae) from Western New Guinea". Aqua (Miradolo Terme) 13 (3-4): 93–108. 
  3. ^ Allen & Dudgeon (2010). "Hemiscyllium michaeli, a new species of Bamboo Shark (Hemiscyllidae) from Papua New Guinea". Aqua International Journal of Ichthyology 16 (1): 19–30. 
  4. ^ Huveneers (2006). "Redescription of two species of wobbegongs (Chondrichthyes: Orectolobidae) with elevation of Orectolobus halei Whitley 1940 to species level". Zootaxa 1284: 29–51. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006f/z01284p051f.pdf. 
  5. ^ Last, Chidlow & Compagno (2006). "A new wobbegong shark, Orectolobus hutchinsi n. sp. (Orectolobiformes: Orectolobidae) from southwestern Australia". Zootaxa 1239: 35–48. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006f/z01239p048f.pdf. 

External links

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Extant cartilaginous fish orders
Elasmobranchii
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