Slim triangular teeth; uppers are finely serrated while lowers are narrow and usually smoother.
A single tooth generally cannot separate spinner from blacktip with confidence.
01
ORIGINAL VISUAL PLATE
Front, edge and jaw position.
02
IDENTIFICATION TRAITS
What to inspect.
- Crown shape
- Narrow dagger or Broad triangle
- Cutting edge
- Fine serrations
- Side cusplets
- No side cusplets
- Root
- Two distinct root lobes or Wide / nearly flat root
- Reference tooth height
- About 6–25 mm, depending on age and jaw position
- Jaw variation
- Uppers are finely serrated; lowers are narrow and mostly smooth.
03
ECOLOGY + SCALE
The shark behind the tooth.
- Habitat
- Warm coastal and shelf waters, often near schooling fishes.
- Diet
- Small schooling fishes, squid and crustaceans.
- Estimated shark size
- Usually 1.6–2.4 m (5–8 ft).
- 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.
Its tooth set is very close to blacktip shark. Subtle crown breadth and serration patterns are unreliable without comparison material.
05
LOOKALIKES
Do not stop at the first match.
LivingBlacktip sharkNarrow, erect upper cusp with fine serrations and a broader base; lower teeth are slimmer and more upright.Compare visual profile →RELATED FORMFinetooth sharkUse jaw position, locality, age and associated teeth to test this lookalike. LivingSilky sharkUpper teeth are oblique and finely serrated with a distinct notch; lower teeth are narrow and erect.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.
HAVE A TOOTH TO CHECK?
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