Image: Wikimedia Commons

shark

Clade of predatory cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes)

Species / taxontaxonQ7372

Also known as sharks · Selachian · Selachians

Scientific name: Selachimorpha
Rank: superorder
Parent taxon: Neoselachii

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fishes characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the division Selachii and are the sister group to the Batomorphi. Some sources extend the term "shark" as an informal category including extinct members of Chondrichthyes with a shark-like morphology, such as hybodonts. Shark-like chondrichthyans such as Cladoselache and Doliodus first appeared in the Devonian Period, though some fossilized chondrichthyan-like scales are as old as the Late Ordovician. The earliest confirmed modern sharks (Selachii) are known from the Early Jurassic around 200 million years ago, with the oldest known member being Agaleus, though records of true sharks may extend back as far as the Permian.

Overview

All data

83 statements · 22% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

MCN code: 0302.81.00
Unicode character: 🦈
Earliest date: 450000th millennium BCE
Wikimedia outline: outline of sharks
Subclass of: fish
fish as food
Taxon synonym: Selachii
Started: 425000th millennium BCE
This taxon is source of: shark liver oil
sharkskin
Has list: list of sharks

On other databases

62 identifiers linking shark across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

22%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 1, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). shark (Q7372). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/shark-Q7372