Upper teeth are broad, dramatically hooked and coarsely serrated; lowers are narrower with hooked tips.
Without knowing upper versus lower position, this species can score alongside tiger or requiem sharks.
01
ORIGINAL VISUAL PLATE
Front, edge and jaw position.
02
IDENTIFICATION TRAITS
What to inspect.
- Crown shape
- Hooked blade or Broad triangle
- Cutting edge
- Coarse serrations
- Side cusplets
- No side cusplets
- Root
- Two distinct root lobes or Wide / nearly flat root
- Reference tooth height
- About 12–48 mm, depending on age and jaw position
- Jaw variation
- Broad hooked serrated uppers differ sharply from narrow lower fangs.
03
ECOLOGY + SCALE
The shark behind the tooth.
- Habitat
- Ancient warm coastal and shelf seas.
- Diet
- Fishes, rays, sharks and marine mammals inferred from tooth form and associations.
- Estimated shark size
- Commonly reconstructed around 3–5 m (10–16 ft), with uncertainty.
- Bite force
- Not directly measurable; no defensible species-specific value is used here.
- Fossil occurrence
- Common in Oligocene–Pleistocene marine deposits, especially as isolated teeth.
- Time range
- Oligocene–Pleistocene
04
FUNCTION
Form follows feeding.
Strong heterodonty means upper and lower teeth can look like different animals. The upper tooth's exaggerated rear shoulder is a major clue.
05
LOOKALIKES
Do not stop at the first match.
LivingTiger sharkA strongly curved, can-opener profile with a deep outer notch and compound serrations.Compare visual profile →LivingBull sharkBroad, heavily serrated upper tooth or a narrower lower tooth with finer serrations.Compare visual profile →ExtinctSqualicoraxCompressed, triangular to oblique blade with strong serrations and a compact two-lobed root.Compare visual profile →
06
DIRECT COMPARISONS
Put it beside its closest rival.
AUTHORITATIVE REFERENCE
Open source ↗Florida Museum Digital Collections
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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