tiger shark

The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) is a species of ground shark, and the only extant member of the genus Galeocerdo and family Galeocerdonidae. It is a large macropredator, with females capable of attaining a length of over . Populations are found in many tropical and temperate waters, especially around central Pacific islands. Its name derives from the dark stripes down its body, which resemble a tiger's pattern, but fade as the shark matures. The tiger shark is a solitary, mostly nocturnal hunter. It is notable for having the widest food spectrum of all sharks, with a range of prey that includes crustaceans, fish, seals, birds, squid, turtles, sea snakes, dolphins, and even other, smaller sharks. It also has a reputation as a "garbage eater", consuming a variety of inedible, man-made objects that linger in its stomach. Tiger sharks have only one recorded natural predator, the orca. It is considered a near threatened species because of finning and fishing by humans. The tiger shark is second only to the great white in recorded fatal attacks on humans, but these events are still exceedingly rare. Taxonomy The shark was first described by Peron and Lesueur 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 kerdo, the word for fox. It is often colloquially called the man-eater shark.