Pointed front teeth with lateral cusplets grade into broad, flattened molar-like rear teeth.
Always record jaw position; a front and rear tooth from the same shark can look unrelated.
01
ORIGINAL VISUAL PLATE
Front, edge and jaw position.
02
IDENTIFICATION TRAITS
What to inspect.
- Crown shape
- Several cusps or Flat / crushing
- Cutting edge
- Smooth edge
- Side cusplets
- One on each side
- Root
- Wide / nearly flat root
- Reference tooth height
- About 3–18 mm, depending on age and jaw position
- Jaw variation
- Sharp anterior graspers grade into broad posterior crushing teeth.
03
ECOLOGY + SCALE
The shark behind the tooth.
- Habitat
- Rocky reefs and kelp beds of the eastern Pacific.
- Diet
- Sea urchins, crabs, mollusks and small fishes.
- Estimated shark size
- Usually under 1 m (3.3 ft); maximum about 1.2 m.
- Bite force
- Laboratory and field studies exist, but values depend strongly on animal size and protocol; no single headline figure is used here.
- Fossil occurrence
- Heterodontid teeth are common from the Mesozoic onward.
- Time range
- Living; heterodontid fossils are common
04
FUNCTION
Form follows feeding.
Its name Heterodontus means different teeth: the front grips while posterior dental plates crush hard-shelled prey.
05
LOOKALIKES
Do not stop at the first match.
LivingBonnetheadSmall front teeth with short cusps grade into broader, flatter crushing teeth toward the jaw corners.Compare visual profile →LivingNurse sharkSmall tooth with a central cusp flanked by several smaller cusplets on a broad base.Compare visual profile →ExtinctPtychodusLow, broad crushing crown with ridges or bumps instead of a cutting blade.Compare visual profile →
06
DIRECT COMPARISONS
Put it beside its closest rival.
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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