Author: Müller and Henle, 1837
Diagnostic Features:
Body fairly stout. Head broad and flat but not trowel-shaped; snout bluntly rounded or nearly truncate in dorsoventral view, very short, with preoral length about equal to internarial space and mruch less than mouth width; eyes fairly large, without posterior notches; large, slitlike spiracles present; no papillose gillrakers on internal gill openings; nostrils small, internarial space about 3 times the nostril width; anterior nasal flaps short, broadly triangular, and not tubular; labial furrows very long, with uppers over twice as long as lowers and nearly reaching anterior ends of eyes; teeth similar in upper and lower jaws, of characteristic cockscomb shape, with heavy, bent, oblique cusps, strong distal cusplets and prominent serrations but no blades; cusps of lower teeth not prominently protruding when mouth is closed; 18 to 26/18 to 25 rows of teeth; interdorsal ridge present and very prominent; low but prominent dermal keels present on caudal peduncle; upper precaudal pit transverse and crescentic. First dorsal origin above pectoral insertions or inner margins, its midbase closer to pectoral bases than to pelvics, and free rear tip well in front of pelvic fins; second dorsal fin much smaller than first, its height about 2/5 of first dorsal height or less; its origin slightly anterior to anal origin; pectoral fin moderately broad and semifalcate, pectoral length from origin to free rear tip about 3/5 to 2/3 of their anterior margins; pectoral origins under interspace between third and fourth gill slits; anal fin about as large as second dorsal, with short preanal ridges and a deeply notched posterior margin. Colour grey with a unique colour pattern of black spots and vertical bars on dorsal surface of body, bold in young but fading out in adults. Gigantic sharks, up to 6 and possibly 7.5 m.
Remarks:
Japanese writers, including Matsubara (1955) and Shiino (1972) often recognize two species of Galeocerdo, G. cuvier and G. rayneri McDonald and Barron, 1868. Pending confirmation of the validity of G. rayneri the writer prefers to include it in synonymy of G. cuvier (see also Compagno, 1979).