Lower teeth form a comb with one tall cusp and a row of progressively smaller cusps.
Identify a comb-like tooth to cow sharks first; exact species may still depend on locality and cusp count.
01
ORIGINAL VISUAL PLATE
Front, edge and jaw position.
02
IDENTIFICATION TRAITS
What to inspect.
- Crown shape
- Comb-like or Several cusps
- Cutting edge
- Smooth edge or Uneven / mixed serrations
- Side cusplets
- Several smaller cusps
- Root
- Wide / nearly flat root
- Reference tooth height
- About 8–30 mm, depending on age and jaw position
- Jaw variation
- Small pointed uppers and broad multi-cusped lower cutting combs.
03
ECOLOGY + SCALE
The shark behind the tooth.
- Habitat
- Temperate coastal bays, shelves and deeper offshore water.
- Diet
- Fishes, rays, other sharks, seals and carrion.
- Estimated shark size
- Commonly 2–2.9 m (6.5–9.5 ft); large females may exceed 3 m.
- Bite force
- No reliable species-specific value is established; bite force changes with body size and bite point.
- Fossil occurrence
- Hexanchid comb teeth have an extensive Mesozoic and Cenozoic record.
- Time range
- Living; fossil relatives occur
04
FUNCTION
Form follows feeding.
Upper teeth are narrower and pointed, but the distinctive multi-cusped lower teeth are the strongest field clue.
05
LOOKALIKES
Do not stop at the first match.
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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