Upper teeth are oblique and finely serrated with a distinct notch; lower teeth are narrow and erect.
Blue, spinner and several other requiem sharks can closely match individual teeth.
01
ORIGINAL VISUAL PLATE
Front, edge and jaw position.
02
IDENTIFICATION TRAITS
What to inspect.
- Crown shape
- Hooked blade or Narrow dagger
- Cutting edge
- Fine serrations
- Side cusplets
- No side cusplets
- Root
- Two distinct root lobes
- Reference tooth height
- About 6–27 mm, depending on age and jaw position
- Jaw variation
- Oblique notched uppers; narrower erect lowers.
03
ECOLOGY + SCALE
The shark behind the tooth.
- Habitat
- Tropical open ocean and outer continental shelves.
- Diet
- Tuna, mackerel, squid and other pelagic prey.
- Estimated shark size
- Usually 2–2.7 m (6.5–9 ft); maximum reports exceed 3 m.
- Bite force
- No reliable species-specific value is established; bite force changes with body size and bite point.
- Fossil occurrence
- Fossil teeth are reported, but isolated teeth may only be identifiable to genus or family.
- Time range
- Living; fossil teeth occur
04
FUNCTION
Form follows feeding.
The curved upper crown fits a pelagic cutting dentition. Laterals become increasingly swept backward.
05
LOOKALIKES
Do not stop at the first match.
LivingBlue sharkUpper teeth are curved and finely serrated; lower teeth are narrow, straighter and often smoother.Compare visual profile →LivingSpinner sharkSlim triangular teeth; uppers are finely serrated while lowers are narrow and usually smoother.Compare visual profile →LivingGalapagos sharkTriangular serrated upper tooth; narrow erect lower tooth with finer serrations.Compare visual profile →
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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