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.
Broad serrated upper tooth paired with a more pointed lower tooth serrated mainly near its tip.
Broad triangle / Narrow dagger
Broad triangle / Narrow dagger
Fine serrations / Coarse serrations
Coarse serrations / Fine serrations
No side cusplets
No side cusplets
Wide / nearly flat root / Two distinct root lobes
Wide / nearly flat root / Two distinct root lobes
10–38 mm reference range
10–36 mm reference range
Broad serrated uppers cut; narrower finely serrated lowers grip and pierce.
Broad serrated uppers contrast with pointed, more lightly serrated lowers.
Warm coastal seas, estuaries and freshwater rivers.
Warm open-ocean waters, usually beyond the continental shelf.
Fishes, rays, sharks, turtles, birds and mammals.
Oceanic fishes, squid, seabirds, turtles and carrion.
Commonly 2–3.2 m (6.5–10.5 ft); large females can be longer.
Usually 2–3 m (6.5–10 ft); large females may be longer.
A theoretical study calculated 36–2,128 N anteriorly and 170–5,914 N posteriorly across 73–285 cm sharks.
No reliable species-specific value is established; bite force changes with body size and bite point.
Carcharhinus-type teeth are common, but exact bull-shark attribution can be difficult.
Fossil teeth are reported, but isolated teeth may only be identifiable to genus or family.
Single upper teeth overlap strongly with dusky, sandbar and oceanic whitetip sharks. Exact species ID may require jaw position or locality.
Florida Museum specifically notes that teeth are easily confused with bull and dusky sharks.
Illustrations are original TuffShark diagrams, not photographs taken from either reference.
KEEP COMPARING