New Guinea river shark

Taxobox
name = New Guinea river shark


status = CR
status_system = IUCN3.1
trend =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Chondrichthyes
subclassis = Elasmobranchii
ordo = Carcharhiniformes
familia = Carcharhinidae
genus = "Glyphis"
species = "G. garricki"
binomial = "Glyphis garricki"
binomial_authority = The New Guinea river shark, "Glyphis garricki", formerly "Glyphis sp. C", is a recently described 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.

References

* Compagno, Dando, & Fowler, "Sharks of the World", Princeton University Press, New Jersey 2005 ISBN 0-691-12072-2
* Pogonoski, J. & Pollard, D. 2003. [http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/42712/all "Glyphis" sp. nov. C] . [http://www.iucnredlist.org 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. ] Downloaded on 03 August 2007.