check the dentition and the dorsal fin proportions to confirm the specimen as G. gangeticus, stating that it could also be one of the four other named species. Specimens G. gangeticus was originally known only from three 19th-century museum specimens, one each in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, and Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. No records exist between 1867 and 1996, and the 1996 records have not been confirmed as G. gangeticus. A specimen collected 84 km upstream of the mouth of the Hooghly River at Mahishadal in 2001 was identified as G. gangeticus, but on photographs of the jaw only. If Carcharias murrayi (Günter, 1887) can be considered a junior synonym of this species, one was found near Karachi, Pakistan. However, the holotype was apparently lost or misplaced in the British Museum of Natural History. Molecular biology Glyphis species, like other sharks, exhibit a very slow rate of genetic change. This makes them even more vulnerable to becoming extinct, as they are unable to adapt to the rapid and extreme changes caused by humans to their environment. As only a few specimens exist, naturally little material available is for genetic sampling. However, two websites list records for G. gangeticus: The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats website lists one record: Public Records: 0 Specimens with Barcodes: 1 Species With Barcodes: 1 The NCBI Taxonomy database has one record of mitochondrial genetic material (1,044 base pairs of linear DNA): Glyphis gangeticus bio-material GN2669, reported in a 2012 paper on DNA sequencing in shark and ray species. Conservation G. gangeticus is one of 20 sharks on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of endangered shark species. The species is currently classified as critically endangered. According to the organisation, fewer than 250 Ganges sharks are believed to exist. The need is urgent for a detailed survey of the shark fisheries of the Bay of Bengal. Major threats River sharks are thought to be particularly vulnerable to habitat changes. The Ganges shark is restricted to a very narrow band of habitat that is heavily affected by human activity. Overfishing, habitat degradation from pollution, increasing river use, and management including the construction of dams and barrages, are the principal threats. Thought to be consumed locally for its meat, the Ganges shark is caught by gillnet, and its oil, along with that of