Carcharhinus falciformis (Bibron, 1839)

Silky Shark

Carcharias (Prionodon) falciformis Bibron in Müller & Henle, 1839: 47 . Holotype: MNHN 0000-1134. Type locality: Cuba, Western Atlantic .

Local synonymy: Carcharhinus falciformis— Filewood, 1973: 7 (Papua New Guinea); Kailola, 1987: 14 (PNG); White et al., 2018: 142, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: (2 spec.) AKPM 4 (dried jaws), juvenile female ~ 1300 mm TL, Rabaul, East New Britain; KFRS E.046 (dried jaws), Cape Saint George, New Ireland, May 1965 .

Remarks: First recorded from PNG by Filewood (1973). Caught in large numbers by the pelagic longline and purse seine fisheries in PNG. Commonly misidentified as Carcharhinus brachyurus (Günther, 1870), which does not occur in PNG, and C. galapagensis (Snodgrass & Heller, 1905) which has not been verified from PNG.