Shark Names: 32 Shark Species by Order, Plus Famous Names

Wikipedia's List of sharks counts 557 described species plus 23 undescribed ones, grouped into eight orders. The first shark-like fish appeared about 400 million years ago (Wikipedia). Most people know only a dozen of those names, so the list below picks 32 of the best known and sorts them by order, with the scientific name for each, because common names vary by country while the scientific name does not.

Scientific names are from Wikipedia's List of sharks and its hammerhead article.

Ground sharks (Carcharhiniformes), the largest order:

• Tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier
• Bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas
• Blue shark, Prionace glauca
• Oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus
• Lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris
• Blacktip reef shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus
• Great hammerhead, Sphyrna mokarran
• Scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini
• Bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo

Mackerel sharks (Lamniformes):

• Great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias
• Shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus
• Basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus
• Megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios
• Goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni
• Thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus
• Sand tiger shark, Carcharias taurus

Carpet sharks (Orectolobiformes):

• Whale shark, Rhincodon typus
• Nurse shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum
• Zebra shark, Stegostoma fasciatum
• Spotted wobbegong, Orectolobus maculatus
• Epaulette shark, Hemiscyllium ocellatum

Dogfish sharks (Squaliformes):

• Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus
• Cookiecutter shark, Isistius brasiliensis
• Dwarf lanternshark, Etmopterus perryi
• Spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias

Cow and frilled sharks (Hexanchiformes):

• Frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus
• Bluntnose sixgill shark, Hexanchus griseus
• Broadnose sevengill shark, Notorynchus cepedianus

Bullhead sharks (Heterodontiformes):

• Horn shark, Heterodontus francisci
• Port Jackson shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni

Angel sharks (Squatiniformes): angelshark, Squatina squatina

Sawsharks (Pristiophoriformes): longnose sawshark, Pristiophorus cirratus

Many shark names are literal descriptions, which helps when you are trying to remember them:

• Cookiecutter shark: it gouges round plugs out of larger animals as if with a cookie cutter, leaving crater wounds averaging 5 cm (2 in) across and 7 cm (2.8 in) deep, although the shark itself is only 42 to 56 cm long (Wikipedia)
• Wobbegong: thought to come from Dharug, an Australian Aboriginal language, meaning shaggy beard, for the growths around the mouth (Wikipedia)
• Hammerhead: named for the wide, flattened head, the cephalofoil, which spreads out sensory receptors and helps the shark find prey (Wikipedia)
• Sixgill and sevengill: named for their extra gill slits; most sharks have five, and the cow sharks are the exception
• Bonnethead: the smallest hammerhead, about 1.5 m (5 ft) and 10.8 kg (24 lb), against about 4 m (13 ft) and 230 kg (500 lb) for an average great hammerhead (Wikipedia)

The most famous shark name belongs to a machine. The film crew of Jaws built three full-size pneumatic prop sharks and nicknamed them Bruce, after Steven Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer (Wikipedia). The shark in the story is a great white that the character Quint estimates at 25 ft (7.6 m) and 3 tonnes; the real maximum for great whites is smaller, which is one reason the film is fiction.

If you want a name for a pet fish, a toy or a team, real species names work well and are easy to explain: Mako (the fast shortfin mako), Tiger, Lemon, Nurse, Bonnet after the bonnethead, Wobbe after the wobbegong, or Cookie after the cookiecutter. Bruce remains the obvious choice for anything that looks like a great white.

No official census ranks shark species by number, so be wary of any definitive top-10 list. What the sources do say:

• Blue shark: one of the most abundant open-ocean sharks. Wikipedia reports that blue sharks make up about 85 to 90% of all sharks and rays caught as bycatch by oceanic fisheries, and that they occur off every continent except Antarctica.
• Spiny dogfish: once the most abundant shark species in the world, now much reduced (Wikipedia). It is also sold under other names: spurdog, mud shark and piked dogfish.
• Ground sharks: the Shark Research Institute calls Carcharhiniformes the largest shark order, so most of the reef and coastal sharks divers and anglers meet, such as blacktip reef, lemon, bull and tiger sharks, come from this group.

• Bullhead sharks are not bullhead catfish. Heterodontiformes, such as the horn shark, are sharks; the bullheads anglers catch in ponds are freshwater catfish. See our bullhead fish page.
• The angelshark is not an angelfish. Squatina is a flattened shark; angelfish such as the queen angelfish are bony reef fish.
• The whale shark is a shark, a carpet shark in Orectolobiformes (Wikipedia), not a whale.
• Aquarium 'sharks' are not sharks. Rainbow and red-tailed 'sharks' are minnows; see our shark fish page.
• Lists disagree on some placements. Wikipedia's List of sharks puts the sand tiger shark in Lamniformes, family Odontaspididae, while the Shark Research Institute's species page lists it under Carcharhiniformes. We follow Wikipedia here.

Research and drafting for this page were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed below. Every number names the organisation it comes from, and where sources disagree we say so instead of picking one silently. Prices are given with the date we checked them (25 September 2026); they change, so confirm before you rely on them. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it.