''Carcharodon'' () is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

s within the family

Lamnidae The Lamnidae are the family of mackerel sharks known as white sharks. They are large, fast-swimming predatory fish found in oceans worldwide, though prefer environments with colder water. The name of the family is formed from the Greek word ''la ...

. The only extant member is the

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocean ...

(''Carcharodon carcharias''). Hubell's white shark (''

Carcharodon hubbelli ''Carcharodon hubbelli'', also known as Hubbell's white shark, is an extinct species of white shark that evolved between 8 and 5 million years ago during the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene epochs. The shark is a transitional species, showing inter ...

'') is an extinct member of this genus.

Megalodon Megalodon (''Otodus megalodon''), meaning "big tooth", is an extinct species of mackerel shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (Mya), from the Early Miocene to the Pliocene epochs. It was formerly thought to be a membe ...

was once placed in this genus but is now placed in the genus ''

Otodus ''Otodus'' is an extinct genus of mackerel shark which lived from the Paleocene to the Pliocene epoch. The name ''Otodus'' comes from Ancient Greek (, meaning "ear") and (, meaning "tooth") – thus, "ear-shaped tooth". Anatomy This shark is ...

,'' in their separate family

Otodontidae Otodontidae is an extinct family of sharks belonging to the order Lamniformes. Its members have been described as megatoothed sharks. They lived from the Early Cretaceous to the Pliocene, and included genera such as ''Carcharocles'' and ''Otod ...

. The name of the genus comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words ''karchar s' ( κάρχαρος, meaning "jagged" or "sharp") and ''odōn'' ( ὀδών, "teeth") giving the Greek for "sharp" or "jagged tooth." A genus of giant carnivorous dinosaur, with sharp, slicing teeth of similar function to those of ''Carcharodon'' sharks was given the related name ''

Carcharodontosaurus ''Carcharodontosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of large carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed during the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous in Northern Africa. The genus ''Carcharodontosaurus'' is named after the shark genus '' Carc ...

''.

Species

* '' Carcharodon carcharias'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, 1758) (the great white shark) *†''

'' Ehret, Macfadden, Jones, Devries, Foster & Salas-Gismondi, 2012 (Hubbell's white shark)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2938003 Taxa named by Andrew Smith (zoologist) Shark genera Fish genera with one living species