The strongest separator is the cutting edge. Confirm it against the root and jaw-position notes before naming an isolated tooth.
Triangular, strongly serrated crown that becomes increasingly oblique toward the jaw corners.
Moderately oblique triangular crown with fine serrations and a deeply notched two-lobed root.
Broad triangle / Hooked blade
Hooked blade / Broad triangle
Coarse serrations
Fine serrations
No side cusplets
No side cusplets
Two distinct root lobes / Wide / nearly flat root
Two distinct root lobes
8–32 mm reference range
6–25 mm reference range
Front teeth are more erect; lateral teeth are strongly oblique and serrated.
Small oblique serrated teeth; laterals lean increasingly backward.
Tropical coastal and offshore waters, reefs and continental shelves.
Warm coastal and offshore waters; adults may form large schools.
Rays, fishes, crustaceans and other sharks.
Fishes, squid, rays and crustaceans.
Commonly 3–4.5 m (10–15 ft); maximum reports approach 6 m.
Usually 2.5–3.5 m (8–11.5 ft); large females can exceed 4 m.
No direct species-wide value; comparative models should not be presented as a measured bite.
No reliable species-specific value is established; bite force changes with body size and bite point.
Hammerhead teeth occur in Neogene deposits, often with uncertain species assignment.
Hammerhead teeth occur in Neogene deposits but are often not species-diagnostic.
Large requiem-shark teeth can be nearly indistinguishable without a known jaw position or associated teeth.
Species-level hammerhead identification from one tooth is usually tentative.
Illustrations are original TuffShark diagrams, not photographs taken from either reference.
KEEP COMPARING