Freshwater shark

Bull shark swims peacefully in Beqa Fiji, 2007
Carcharhinus leucas, a freshwater Bull shark, swims in Fiji 2007

Freshwater sharks are sharks able to live in freshwater lakes and rivers, including:

  • the river sharks, Glyphis, true freshwater sharks found in fresh and brackish water in Asia and Australia
  • the bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, which 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 and xenacanths, are also thought to have inhabited freshwater environments.

A small number of freshwater fish cyprinids and catfish (which are bony fish 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 – labeos
  • Puntius denisonii – Roseline shark
  • Pangasianodon hypophthalmus – Iridescent Shark
  • Pangasius sangitwongsei – sometimes called Paroon Shark or Hi-Fin Shark in the aquarium trade
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