 Based on morphological data, Jack Garrick suggested in 1982 that the blacknose shark has a sister relationship to a group containing the whitecheek shark ("C. dussumieri") and the blackspot shark ("C. sealei"), while Leonard Compagno proposed in 1988 that this shark belongs in a group with five other species, including the silky shark ("C. falciformis") and the blacktip reef shark ("C. melanopterus").Molecular analyses have been similarly equivocal regarding the blacknose shark's phylogenetic relationships