Tiny, strongly curved hook-like teeth with a broad base, repeated in many rows.
Very few comparative specimens exist; isolated microteeth should be identified cautiously.
01
ORIGINAL VISUAL PLATE
Front, edge and jaw position.
02
IDENTIFICATION TRAITS
What to inspect.
- Crown shape
- Hooked blade or Narrow dagger
- Cutting edge
- Smooth edge
- Side cusplets
- No side cusplets
- Root
- Wide / nearly flat root
- Reference tooth height
- About 3–9 mm, depending on age and jaw position
- Jaw variation
- Many rows of tiny curved teeth line both jaws.
03
ECOLOGY + SCALE
The shark behind the tooth.
- Habitat
- Deep tropical and subtropical oceanic waters; often vertically migratory.
- Diet
- Krill and other planktonic organisms.
- Estimated shark size
- Most adults are about 4–5.5 m (13–18 ft); larger specimens are recorded.
- Bite force
- Not established and not central to filter feeding.
- Fossil occurrence
- Rare small teeth attributed to megachasmids occur in Cenozoic deposits.
- Time range
- Living; fossil relatives are reported
04
FUNCTION
Form follows feeding.
The dentition is reduced in a filter-feeding animal and varies along the jaw. Teeth are not useful for estimating its enormous body size.
05
LOOKALIKES
Do not stop at the first match.
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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