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.
Lower teeth form a comb with one tall cusp and a row of progressively smaller cusps.
Wide lower tooth with a tall leading cusp followed by a comb of smaller cusps.
Comb-like / Several cusps
Comb-like / Several cusps
Smooth edge / Uneven / mixed serrations
Uneven / mixed serrations
Several smaller cusps
Several smaller cusps
Wide / nearly flat root
Wide / nearly flat root
8–30 mm reference range
8–35 mm reference range
Small pointed uppers and broad multi-cusped lower cutting combs.
Narrow pointed uppers and broad comb-like lower teeth.
Temperate coastal bays, shelves and deeper offshore water.
Deep temperate and tropical slopes, canyons and seamounts.
Fishes, rays, other sharks, seals and carrion.
Fishes, rays, sharks, squid, crustaceans and carrion.
Commonly 2–2.9 m (6.5–9.5 ft); large females may exceed 3 m.
Commonly 3–4.5 m (10–15 ft); large females may be longer.
No reliable species-specific value is established; bite force changes with body size and bite point.
No reliable species-specific value is established; bite force changes with body size and bite point.
Hexanchid comb teeth have an extensive Mesozoic and Cenozoic record.
Hexanchid teeth have a long Jurassic-to-Recent record.
Identify a comb-like tooth to cow sharks first; exact species may still depend on locality and cusp count.
Cusp count, crown proportions and age are needed to distinguish sixgill from sevengill and fossil hexanchids.
Illustrations are original TuffShark diagrams, not photographs taken from either reference.
KEEP COMPARING