Glyphis glyphis

Sharks and rays

Usual depth1–3 m
Water temperature28°C
Best monthsJune, July, and December
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) CSIRO National Fish Collection, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

The speartooth shark is a rare species of river shark, belonging to the family Carcharhinidae. It inhabits coastal marine waters and tidal reaches of large tropical rivers in northern Australia and New Guinea. Despite being a member of the river shark genus, it is also found in near-shore marine waters, favoring highly turbid environments over a wide range of salinities. This robustly built, gray-colored shark is characterized by a short and broad snout, tiny eyes, a relatively large second dorsal fin, and a black blotch beneath each pectoral fin near the tip. Another identifying trait is its teeth, which are large, triangular, and serrated in the upper jaw and narrow, spear-like, and serrated only near the tips in the lower jaw. Adults grow to about 2.6 m (8.5 ft) long.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Speartooth shark”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 1,383 records
February: 839 records
March: 714 records
April: 807 records
May: 1,203 records
June: 1,437 records
July: 1,429 records
August: 1,405 records
September: 1,389 records
October: 1,341 records
November: 1,386 records
December: 1,546 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–3 m · Deepest record: 20.6 m

0–10 m: 10,792 records
10–20 m: 50 records
20–30 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 28°C

26–28 °C: 6 records

Photos

Names and classification

Other scientific names: Carcharhinus glyphis, Carcharias glyphis

Similar species

Glyphis garricki
Glyphis gangeticus
Silvertip shark
Carcharhinus albimarginatus
Grey reef shark
Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos
Pigeye shark
Carcharhinus amboinensis
Bronze whaler
Carcharhinus brachyurus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
14,877 open-data records from 1966 to 2021.

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