Broad triangular, finely serrated upper teeth and narrow lower teeth with small serrations.
Reef location helps, but isolated teeth overlap with Galapagos, grey reef and other requiem sharks.
01
ORIGINAL VISUAL PLATE
Front, edge and jaw position.
02
IDENTIFICATION TRAITS
What to inspect.
- Crown shape
- Broad triangle or Narrow dagger
- Cutting edge
- Fine serrations
- Side cusplets
- No side cusplets
- Root
- Two distinct root lobes or Wide / nearly flat root
- Reference tooth height
- About 6–28 mm, depending on age and jaw position
- Jaw variation
- Broad upper cutting teeth contrast with narrow lower teeth.
03
ECOLOGY + SCALE
The shark behind the tooth.
- Habitat
- Western Atlantic tropical coral reefs and drop-offs.
- Diet
- Reef fishes, rays and cephalopods.
- Estimated shark size
- Usually 2–2.5 m (6.5–8 ft); larger animals occur.
- Bite force
- No reliable species-specific value is established; bite force changes with body size and bite point.
- Fossil occurrence
- Sparse and hard to distinguish from other Carcharhinus.
- Time range
- Living; fossil record limited
04
FUNCTION
Form follows feeding.
Front upper teeth are more erect; lateral teeth lean backward. This is a generalized Carcharhinus dentition.
05
LOOKALIKES
Do not stop at the first match.
LivingGalapagos sharkTriangular serrated upper tooth; narrow erect lower tooth with finer serrations.Compare visual profile →LivingSandbar sharkBroad, serrated high-cusped upper teeth; narrower and more finely serrated lowers.Compare visual profile →LivingBlacktip reef sharkSmall, narrow triangular teeth with fine serrations; upper teeth are broader than lowers.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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