Odontaspis ferox

Tony Strazzari Grey nurse shark at The Looking Glass, Broughton Island NSW

Suzan Meldonian nurse shark?? lot of teeth for a nurse.

Tony Strazzari Carcharias taurus

Suzan Meldonian well I have learned something new today...never knew nurse sharks had teeth.This is called a Sand Tiger Shark, Carcharius taurus here. I see that they call this a nurse shark in Australia... how interesting .. please have a look at these sites for shark ids- this is Museum of natural history UF Ichthyology site id info. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/Sandtiger/Sandtiger.html as opposed to http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/nurseshark/nurseshark.htm

Ron Silver These are much different from the nurse sharks we have in FL which have grinding plates rather than teeth. Highlights the problem(s) with common names.

Tony Strazzari Our Port Jackson sharks have grinding plates... but Ron you are right about common names ... can cause confusion the Carcharias taurus is not related to the other "nurse" sharks or tiger sharks for that matter either ...also we refer to the Odontaspis ferox as the sand tiger shark ... see http://australianmuseum.net.au/Odontaspididae-Grey-Nurse-Sharks/

Ron Silver Tony, you are preaching to the choir! I have been a strong proponent of including (whenever possible) the scientific names of species in photos along with the common names. Guess I was indoctrinated in my school days and utilized binomial nomenclature throughout my Federal career. Nonetheless, it certainly avoids a lot of confusion on IDs.

Suzan Meldonian what a riot... I've seen a lot of quibling over names on small critters, but never was aware of this in the shark world until now. I have to find you the link on the naming of nurse sharks- because they suckle... which I think would really be funky with your nurse shark! LOL