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Carcharhinus perezii, the Caribbean reef shark, is an extant species of the Western Atlantic (Florida to Brazil, including the Caribbean & Gulf of Mexico).
They inhabit subtropical shelf waters usually to 30 meters feeding on bony fishes.
A medium-sized shark, they may reach nearly 3 meters but average about 1.5m.
(Ref. Compagno 1984, Compagno et al 2005, and FishBase.org.)
 The dentition is cutting-clutching in design; cutting provided by broadened uppers with a serrate cutting-edge. Teeth number 11-13 per quadrate displaying gradational dignathic heterodonty. Uppers usually display slightly enlarged cusplets on each shoulder, with finer ones on the mesial and distal edge of the cusp. The transition in serrations is gradational on the mesial edge and more abrupt (often notched1) on the distal. Lowers have narrower with more erect cusps; in extant individuals the lowers are finely serrate2. Lower anteriors are only serrate on the apical portion of the cusp (not on the lower cusp or shoulders). Distally, the serrations extend lower onto the shoulders. There appears to be little evidence of sexual dimorphism displayed by the teeth.
Müller (1999: 48, pl 3, figs 13-15) reported this tooth-design from the Pungo River as Carcharhinus egertoni (AGASSIZ 1843).
Purdy et al (2001: 154) noted it as present in upper Pungo River (Unit 3-5; Serravalian, Middle Miocene) and lower Yorktown (Unit 1; Zanclean, Early Pliocene) Formation sediments and attributed it to C. perezii.
A reconstruction of isolated teeth (ref Fig. above) supports the argument that these teeth represent a Miocene variation of the modern taxon.
Footnotes
| 1 | Although slightly larger than the teeth of C. falciformis at Lee Creek, those of falciformis display a prominent notch on both mesial and distal edges. |
| 2 | To see them at all you have to illuminate the teeth from an angle. |
References
Compagno, L.,1984. FAO Species Catalogue, Vol 4, parts 1 & 2 Sharks of the World. United Nations Development Program.
Compagno, L.,1988. Sharks of the Order Carcharhiniformes. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 486 pp , 35 plates.
Compagno, L,, Dando & M., Fowler, S., 2005. Sharks of the World. Harper Collins, 368 p.
FishBase.org Nov. 2008.
Garrick, J., 1982. Sharks of the Genus Carcharhinus. NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular 445. 194 pp.
Müller, A. 1999. Ichthyofaunen aus dem atlantischen Tertiär der USA. Leipziger Geowissenschafteb, Leipzig, 9/10: 1-360.
Purdy, R., Schneider, V., Appelgate, S., McLellan, J., Meyer, R. & Slaughter, R., 2001. The Neogene Sharks, Rays, and Bony Fishes from Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina. In: Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, III. C. E. Ray & D. J. Bohaska eds. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, No 90. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. pp. 71-202.
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