Small front teeth with short cusps grade into broader, flatter crushing teeth toward the jaw corners.
Jaw position is essential because anterior and posterior bonnethead teeth look very different.
01
ORIGINAL VISUAL PLATE
Front, edge and jaw position.
02
IDENTIFICATION TRAITS
What to inspect.
- Crown shape
- Hooked blade or Flat / crushing
- Cutting edge
- Smooth edge or Fine serrations
- Side cusplets
- No side cusplets
- Root
- Two distinct root lobes or Wide / nearly flat root
- Reference tooth height
- About 3–15 mm, depending on age and jaw position
- Jaw variation
- Pointed anterior teeth transition into broad posterior crushers.
03
ECOLOGY + SCALE
The shark behind the tooth.
- Habitat
- Warm shallow bays, estuaries, seagrass beds and continental shelves.
- Diet
- Crabs, shrimp, mollusks, small fishes and seagrass.
- Estimated shark size
- Usually 0.8–1.2 m (2.5–4 ft); maximum about 1.5 m.
- Bite force
- No reliable species-specific value is established; bite force changes with body size and bite point.
- Fossil occurrence
- Fossil teeth are reported, but isolated teeth may only be identifiable to genus or family.
- Time range
- Living; fossil teeth occur
04
FUNCTION
Form follows feeding.
The mixed dentition handles crabs, shrimp and other hard prey; posterior teeth may look molar-like.
05
LOOKALIKES
Do not stop at the first match.
LivingHorn sharkPointed front teeth with lateral cusplets grade into broad, flattened molar-like rear teeth.Compare visual profile →LivingScalloped hammerheadModerately oblique triangular crown with fine serrations and a deeply notched two-lobed root.Compare visual profile →LivingNurse sharkSmall tooth with a central cusp flanked by several smaller cusplets on a broad base.Compare visual profile →
AUTHORITATIVE REFERENCE
Open source ↗Florida Museum
The visual plate is original TuffShark artwork and is not copied from the reference. Use the source alongside formation age, locality and associated material.
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