Broad, heavily serrated upper tooth or a narrower lower tooth with finer serrations.
Single upper teeth overlap strongly with dusky, sandbar and oceanic whitetip sharks. Exact species ID may require jaw position or locality.
01
IDENTIFICATION TRAITS
What to inspect.
- Crown shape
- Broad triangle or Narrow dagger
- Cutting edge
- Fine serrations or Coarse serrations
- Side cusplets
- No side cusplets
- Root
- Wide / nearly flat root or Two distinct root lobes
- Reference height
- roughly 10–38 mm, depending on age and jaw position
- Time
- Living; fossil teeth also occur
02
WHY IT LOOKS THIS WAY
Form follows feeding.
Upper and lower teeth are heterodont: the uppers cut with broad triangular crowns, while the lowers are narrower and more erect.
03
LOOKALIKES
Do not stop at the first match.
LivingOceanic whitetipBroad serrated upper tooth paired with a more pointed lower tooth serrated mainly near its tip.Compare profile →LivingSandbar sharkBroad, serrated high-cusped upper teeth; narrower and more finely serrated lowers.Compare profile →LivingGreat hammerheadTriangular, strongly serrated crown that becomes increasingly oblique toward the jaw corners.Compare profile →
PRIMARY / AUTHORITATIVE REFERENCE
Open source ↗Florida Museum
Use the source alongside collection locality and geologic age. A photograph alone cannot establish provenance.
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