 A more detailed description, along with an illustration, was published by German naturalist Eduard Rüppell in 1837 as "Nebrius concolor", based on a specimen from the Red Sea.Both names were retained, often in separate genera ("Ginglymostoma" and "Nebrius" respectively), until they were synonymized by Leonard Compagno in 1984.Compagno recognized that the tooth shape differences used to separate these species were the result of differences in age, with "N. concolor" representing younger individuals.