These teeth overlap in both broad form and edge treatment. Root proportions, jaw position, size, age and locality must carry more weight than silhouette alone.
Broad, heavily serrated upper tooth or a narrower lower tooth with finer serrations.
Triangular, strongly serrated crown that becomes increasingly oblique toward the jaw corners.
Broad triangle / Narrow dagger
Broad triangle / Hooked blade
Fine serrations / Coarse serrations
Coarse serrations
No side cusplets
No side cusplets
Wide / nearly flat root / Two distinct root lobes
Two distinct root lobes / Wide / nearly flat root
10–38 mm reference range
8–32 mm reference range
Broad serrated uppers cut; narrower finely serrated lowers grip and pierce.
Front teeth are more erect; lateral teeth are strongly oblique and serrated.
Warm coastal seas, estuaries and freshwater rivers.
Tropical coastal and offshore waters, reefs and continental shelves.
Fishes, rays, sharks, turtles, birds and mammals.
Rays, fishes, crustaceans and other sharks.
Commonly 2–3.2 m (6.5–10.5 ft); large females can be longer.
Commonly 3–4.5 m (10–15 ft); maximum reports approach 6 m.
A theoretical study calculated 36–2,128 N anteriorly and 170–5,914 N posteriorly across 73–285 cm sharks.
No direct species-wide value; comparative models should not be presented as a measured bite.
Carcharhinus-type teeth are common, but exact bull-shark attribution can be difficult.
Hammerhead teeth occur in Neogene deposits, often with uncertain species assignment.
Single upper teeth overlap strongly with dusky, sandbar and oceanic whitetip sharks. Exact species ID may require jaw position or locality.
Large requiem-shark teeth can be nearly indistinguishable without a known jaw position or associated teeth.
Illustrations are original TuffShark diagrams, not photographs taken from either reference.
KEEP COMPARING