What happened to the whaler shark?

[tunaticer]

carcharhinus macrurus whaler shark aka black whaler and river shark.

Seems this shark has dropped from the radar in Aus over the past decade and the Bull shark has replaced it.
The bull shark is Carcharhinus leucas ValenciennesThe whaler shark is carcharhinus macrurus

The two are near identical yet different.

Why are whalers no longer the common shark here?

[randell]

probably mistaken identity....
A couple of pics would be helpfull.
randell

[bigjimg]

Plenty of Black Tip Whalers in the Bay.Jim

[tunaticer]

carcharhinus macrurus is not listed in any current literature in the Australian Museum......wondering if they have reclassified the original classing or split the genus into several new species??

What I know as bronze whalers are still about in good numbers in the bay and rivers yet the museum does not recognise them.
They do however recognise bull sharks???

[Richo1]

Hi Jack,

Good question and have been surfing the net to find an answer. From what I've found I think the name has been changed to Carcharhinus obscurus also known as a Dusky shark.
I have a great book at home published by the CSIRO called "Sharks and Rays of Australia" containing every shark and ray in Oz. Unfortunately I won't be home for another week to look it up.
Since 1994, 29 species of "Whaler shark" Carcharhinus have been discovered in Australian waters bringing a total of around 75+ species in the Genus.


Taxonomy

Lessueur first described the dusky shark in 1818 and classified it as Squalus obscurus, later renaming it the currently valid name Carcharhinus obscurus. The genus name Carcharhinus is derived from the Greek "karcharos" = sharpen and "rhinos" = nose. Obscurus can be translated from Latin as "dark, indistinct." Since its original description, this shark has appeared in the literature under several different names, including Geleolamna greyi Owen 1853, Carcharias macrurus Ramsay & Ogilby 1887, Galeolamna (Galeolamnoides) eblis Whitley 1944, Carcharhinus iranzae Fourmanoir 1961, and Carcharhinus obscurella Deng, Xiong & Zhan 1981.

Common Names

Common English language names for this shark include bay-shark, black whaler, bronze whaler, brown dusky shark, brown shark, common whaler, dusky ground shark, dusky shark, shark, and shovelnose. Other names include arenero (Spanish), blauhai (German), cação fidalgo (Portuguese), cazón (Spanish), donkerhaai (Afrikaans), dotabuka (Japanese), estrela (Portuguese), karcharynos skotinochromos (Greek), köpek baligi (Turkish), lamia (Spanish), marracho areneiro (Portuguese), requiem de sable (French), schemerhaai (Dutch), squalo scuro (Italian), sumuhai (Finnish), tiburón arenero (Spanish), and zarlacz ciemnoskóry (Polish).

Geographical Distribution

The dusky shark is a cosmopolitan species that occurs along continental coastlines in tropical and temperate waters. It ranges from Nova Scotia to Cuba (including the northern Gulf of Mexico) and from Nicaragua to southern Brazil in the western Atlantic and from southern California to the Gulf of California in the eastern Pacific. It is also found in the Mediterranean, Indian and western Pacific, including Madagascar and Australia.



Hope that helps.

[tunaticer]

Thanks for that Richo, I sort of suspected it had a name change.

Leads to the question though, how many "bull sharks" caught by rec fishers are Whalers and being called Bulls and vice versa?

Seems like American traits are overtaking the aussie language more and more.
When I was a kid bull sharks were in the florida keys and whalers were our local shark.

[Richo1]

Here is a link to a PDF you can download (free) to help identify some of the more common sharks found in OZ.

Unless you have done lots of research prior to catching your shark it is pretty hard to identify them correctly, especially with juveniles. With many species it comes down to comparing their teeth, which is pretty hard to do with a live shark! This would be a good guide to print out in colour and throw in the boat. Laminate if you really want to get serious.


[PDF]



Identifying sharks and rays - NSW Department of Primary Industries

www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/.../pdf_file/.../Identifying-sharks-and-ra...Similar

[mayer60]

I have been told that a shark called a Pig-eye shark is often mistaken for bull sharks,,as richo says comparing teeth is sometimes the only way..apparently very common in coastal rivers,,
http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/28_11988.htm

[-Chris-]

Whaler sharks as mentioned above are quite difficult to identify and studying the shark in question's teeth may be the only certain way to identify it. Something that may interest people into sharks - http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=24232

[Horse]

It looks like the good old Bronze Whaler (carcharhinus brachyurus) is now known as the copper shark

[-Chris-]

Speaking of the Bronze whaler, I think it would be number 1 on the list of sharks that are incorrectly identified by QLD fisherman. Bronze whalers are not at all common in QLD, in fact according to the QLD Fisheries they are "not in QLD waters". I don't completely agree with that though as their official range extends to Coffs Harbour which would mean they almost certainly occupy southern QLD waters.

[tunaticer]

Just thinking about the similarity of the sharks it leads me to wonder if we applied the science to the human population how many species of human would we have? Difference could be as small as a colour variation or a tooth shape or eye shape. There must be 7 billion species of human if everyone has a mirror image around the world. I know everyone in my family have different teeth and there is also a colour variation with two blondes and 5 brunettes.

[deckie]

Bull sharks are just another in the whaler family as far as i know. But yeah, what we used to call whalers werent bull sharks, nor even "bronze" whalers which we'd encountrer off Syd far less often. Just called them black tip whalers and whilst not huge they'd get up to 300kg+ or so with plenty around the 200kg. Fairly pointy head and greyish. They definitely were not bull sharks thats for sure. Even inside the harbours we'd all be concerned about that 6ft "whaler", the one that likes to chew anything to see what it is.
A big one was taken at the interclub about 10-15yrs ago and became a world record...i always heard and thought of it as a black tip. BUT...interesting i just looked up the IGFA and they have it listed it on its all tackle records as a "Silky Shark", which i always thought were smaller and noone ever called them that here....this thing was 346kg which aint exactly small. The IGFA have no listing for anything just called a "whaler" not even a bronze whaler.
Dial your local GFC to find out.

[GABBA110360]

Here is a link to a PDF you can download (free) to help identify some of the more common sharks found in OZ.

Unless you have done lots of research prior to catching your shark it is pretty hard to identify them correctly, especially with juveniles. With many species it comes down to comparing their teeth, which is pretty hard to do with a live shark! This would be a good guide to print out in colour and throw in the boat. Laminate if you really want to get serious.


[PDF]



Identifying sharks and rays - NSW Department of Primary Industries

www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/.../pdf_file/.../Identifying-sharks-and-ra...Similar

i have a small book publication of that link from my pro days sent out by fisheries.
it's a good book
there are distinct differences between all the above mentioned sharks.
teeth/position of dorsil in relation to pectoral fin on the trunk
its a interesting booklet
cheers
ken