Freshwater sharks are
shark
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish 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 ...
s that live in freshwater environments. While the majority of sharks are solely marine, a small number of shark species have adapted to live in freshwater.
The
river sharks (of the genus ''Glyphis'') live in freshwater and coastal marine environments. The
bull shark
The bull shark (''Carcharhinus leucas''), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in riv ...
(''Carcharhinus leucas''), can swim between salt and fresh water, and are found in tropical rivers around the world.
Some prehistoric sharks (in a broad sense), including
hybodonts
Hybodontiformes, commonly called hybodonts, are an extinct group of shark-like cartilaginous fish (chondrichthyans) which existed from the late Devonian to the Late Cretaceous. Hybodonts share a close common ancestry with modern sharks and Batoide ...
and
xenacanths, are also thought to have inhabited freshwater environments.
A small number of freshwater fish
cyprinid
Cyprinidae is a Family (biology), family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barb (fish), barbs and barbel (fish), barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the ...
s and
catfish
Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...
(which are
bony fish
Osteichthyes ( ; ), also known as osteichthyans or commonly referred to as the bony fish, is a Biodiversity, diverse clade of vertebrate animals that have endoskeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondricht ...
and thus quite unrelated to sharks) are also commonly called "freshwater sharks", "sharkminnows" or simply "sharks", particularly in the
aquarium fish trade:
* ''
Balantiocheilos melanopterus'' – Bala shark, tricolor shark, silver shark
* ''
Epalzeorhynchos'' – typical freshwater "sharks"
* ''
Labeo'' –
* ''
Puntius denisonii'' – Roseline shark
* ''
Pangasianodon hypophthalmus'' – Iridescent Shark
* ''
Pangasius sangitwongsei'' – sometimes called Paroon Shark or Hi-Fin Shark in the aquarium trade
{{Animal common name
Cyprinidae
Sharks
Fish common names