Northern river shark
| Northern river shark | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Superorder: | Selachimorpha |
| Order: | Carcharhiniformes |
| Family: | Carcharhinidae |
| Genus: | Glyphis |
| Species: | G. garricki |
| Binomial name | |
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Glyphis garricki Compagno, W. T. White & Last, 2008 |
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| Range of the northern river shark | |
The northern river shark or New Guinea river shark (Glyphis garricki) is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae. It is found in scattered tidal rivers and associated coastal waters in northern Australia, and Papua New Guinea. This species inhabits areas with poor visibility, soft bottoms, and large tides, with immature sharks ranging into fresh and brackish water. It is similar to other river sharks in having a stocky grey body with a high back, tiny eyes, and broad fins. It measures up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) long.
Northern river sharks are likely piscivorous. This species is viviparous, with females bearing litters of 9 young possibly every other year before the wet season. Very rare and facing threats from commercial and recreational fishing, and perhaps also habitat degradation, this species has been assessed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The first known specimens of the northern river shark, two newborn males from Papua New Guinea, were discovered by New Zealand ichthyologist Jack Garrick, after whom the species would eventually be named. This shark was referred to as "Glyphis sp. C" until 2008, when it was formally described by Leonard Compagno, William White, and Peter R. Last in a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) paper. The type specimen is a female 67 cm (26 in) long, collected from the East Alligator River, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory.
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