Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The naming of the Great White Shark

Wikipedia in regard to the naming of the Great White:

Carolus Linnaeus (a very interesting Swedish botanist) gave the great white shark its first scientific name, Squalus carcharias, in 1758. Sir Andrew Smith gave it the generic name Carcharodon in 1833, and in 1873, the generic name was identified with Linnaeus’ specific name and the current scientific name Carcharodon carcharias was finalised. Carcharodon comes from the Greek words karcharos, which means sharp or jagged, and odous, which means tooth.