Encyclopedia of Life · EOL (see source)
Lamnidae
Sign in to saveAlso known as mackerel sharks, white sharks, Lamnid, Lamnids
The Lamnidae are the family of mackerel sharks known as white sharks. They are large, fast-swimming predatory fish found in oceans worldwide, though they prefer environments with colder water. The name of the family is formed from the Greek word lamna, which means "fish of prey", and was derived from the Greek legendary creature, the Lamia.
OverviewAI-generated
Lamnidae is a family of organisms within the order Lamniformes, class Elasmobranchii, and phylum Chordata. The taxon was established by Bonaparte in 1835 and is currently accepted. It belongs to the kingdom Animalia. Common examples include great white sharks.
The family inhabits marine and brackish environments. Records exist in the United States and the United Kingdom, with specimens held by institutions such as USNM, SDNHM, UCMP, and NHMUK. There are 269 records and 72 media items associated with these collections. A total of 125,719 occurrences have been documented.
Synthesized by Vinony from 25 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
great white sharks
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassElasmobranchii
- OrderLamniformes
- FamilyLamnidae
Die Familie der Makrelenhaie (Lamnidae) ist weltweit verbreitet und besteht rezent aus drei Gattungen mit insgesamt fünf Arten, deren bekannteste der Weiße Hai (Carcharodon carcharias) ist. Allen gemeinsam ist die stromlinienförmige Körperform, die sie zu schnellen Schwimmern macht. Begünstigt wird dies zusätzlich durch Seitenkiele am Ansatz der Schwanzflosse, die keine Einkerbung besitzen, sowie ein System an Kapillargefäßen (Rete mirabile – „Wundernetz“), das die Körpertemperatur stabil hält. Alle Makrelenhaie besitzen eine sehr spitze Schnauze, sehr dunkle Augen und relativ große Brustflossen. Alle Arten sind ovovivipar, das heißt, dass sie zwar Eier bilden, diese aber im Leib des Muttertiers ausgebrütet werden, wobei es häufig zu intrauterinem Kannibalismus (Oophagie) kommt. Alle Makrelenhaie können ihre Körpertemperatur über der des sie umgebenden Meerwassers halten. Sie besitzen ein Blutgefäßsystem, ein feines Adernetz (Wundernetz oder Rete mirabilis), welches das kalte von den Kiemen kommende Blut mit dem warmen vom Körper kommenden Blut aufwärmt. Diese Erhöhung der Körpertemperatur durch das sehr effiziente Wärmetauschsystem ermöglicht die sehr hohen Schwimmgeschwindigkeite
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 269
- With media
- 72
- Family
- Lamnidae
- Collections
- USNM, SDNHM, UCMP, NHMUK
- Recorded in
- United States, United Kingdom
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Image
- White shark.jpg
Show 6 more facts
- taxon common name
- Λαμνίδες
- taxon rank
- family
- Commons category
- Lamnidae
- taxon name
- Lamnidae
- Code of nomenclature
- International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
- topic's main category
- Category:Lamnidae
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- Genera and species
- See also
- References
The Lamnidae are the family of mackerel sharks known as white sharks. They are large, fast-swimming predatory fish found in oceans worldwide, though they prefer environments with colder water. The name of the family is formed from the Greek word lamna, which means "fish of prey", and was derived from the Greek legendary creature, the Lamia.
These sharks have pointed snouts, spindle-shaped bodies, and large gill openings. The first dorsal fin is large, high, stiff and angular or somewhat rounded. The second dorsal and anal fins are minute. The caudal peduncle has a couple of less distinct keels. The teeth are gigantic. The fifth gill opening is in front of the pectoral fin and spiracles are sometimes absent. They are powerful, heavily built sharks, sometimes weighing nearly twice as much as other sharks of comparable length from other families. Many sharks in the family are among the fastest-swimming fish, although the massive great white shark is slower due to its large size.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Lamnidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.