 Large numbers of milk sharks are caught by artisanal and commercial fisheries in many countries for meat, fins, and fishmeal.Despite this, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed this species as being of Least Concern, because its wide distribution and relatively high productivity seemingly allow present levels of exploitation to be sustained.The German naturalist Eduard Rüppell published the first scientific description of the milk shark, as "Carcharias acutus" (the specific epithet means "sharp" in Latin), in his 1837 "Fische des Rothen Meeres" ("Fishes of the Red Sea").