Silvertip Shark - Taxonomy and Phylogeny

Taxonomy and Phylogeny

The silvertip shark was originally described as Carcharias albimarginatus by German naturalist Eduard Rüppell, in the 1837 Fische des Rothen Meeres (Fishes of the Red Sea). The name was later changed to the currently valid Carcharhinus albimarginatus. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin albi meaning "white", and marginatus meaning "to enclose with a border". In 1960, a 103 cm (3.4 ft)-long immature male caught off Ras Muhammad in the Red Sea was designated as the type specimen. Based on similarities in morphology, tooth shape, and vertebral characters, Garrick (1982) proposed the grey reef shark as the closest relative of the silvertip shark. This interpretation was corroborated by Lavery (1992), based on allozyme data.