Caribbean Sea
Marine biota in the region have representatives of both the Indian and Pacific oceans which were caught in the Caribbean before the emergence of the Isthmus of Panama four million years ago. In the Caribbean Sea there are around 1,000 documented species of fish, including sharks (bull shark, tiger shark, silky shark and Caribbean reef shark), flying fish, giant oceanic manta ray, angel fish, spotfin butterflyfish, parrotfish, Atlantic Goliath grouper, tarpon and moray eels. Throughout the Caribbean there is industrial catching of lobster and sardines (off the coast of Yucatán Peninsula).
Caribbean reef shark
Based on morphological similarities, Jack Garrick in 1982 grouped this species with the bignose shark ("C. altimus") and the sandbar shark ("C. plumbeus"), while Leonard Compagno in 1988 placed it as the sister species of the grey reef shark ("C. amblyrhynchos"). A phylogenetic analysis based on allozyme data, published by Gavin Naylor in 1992, indicated that the Caribbean reef shark is the sister taxon to a clade formed by the Galapagos shark ("C. galapagensis"), dusky shark ("C. obscurus"), oceanic whitetip shark ("C. longimanus"), and the blue shark ("Prionace glauca"). However, more work is required to fully resolve the interrelationships within "Carcharhinus".