Taxonomy
The shark was first described by Peron and Lessueur in 1822, and was given the name Squalus cuvier. Müller and Henle in 1837 renamed it Galeocerdo tigrinus. The genus, Galeocerdo, is derived from the Greek galeos which means shark and the Latin cerdus which means the hard hairs of pigs. It is often colloquially called the man-eater shark.
The tiger shark is a member of the order Carcharhiniformes. Members of this order are characterized by the presence of a nictitating membrane over the eyes, two dorsal fins, an anal fin, and five gill slits. It is the largest member of the Carcharhinidae family, commonly referred to as requiem sharks. This family includes some other well-known sharks, such as the blue shark, lemon shark and bull shark.
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