Words you might want to know:
Serrated = notched or toothed on the edge, kind of jagged
Filter feeding = not actively hunting, instead opts to eat whatever lands in their mouth that is easy to swallow.
Extinct = no longer living/ all of species is dead
Estimated = approximate, thought to be
protrude = go out beyond the 'normal'. for teeth it's used for when the teeth are visible from the outside of the mouth or are extended beyond the jaw.
sharks have very interesting teeth!! razor sharp and sometimes serrated at the sides
the most famous shark teeth type Is the megalodon, which comes from a huge extinct shark that lived23 to 3.58 million years ago!
They are a type of mackerel shark (like great whites & makos, goblins & megamouths.)
Examples of mackerel sharks below [v]
[in order: great white, megamouth, goblin]
interesting types of shark teeth:
very tiny!!between 0.3 and 0.8 inches in length.
They are not sharp, designed for plankton and krill!
The smallest of the filter feeder sharks (including whale shark, basking shark, and megamouth shark!)
Up to 18 feet in length fullbody-wise
Biggest shark teeth currently known!
The biggest one is 7.48 inches length-wise, compared to the typical 3 to 5 inches found!!
Also the biggest currently known shark!
Name means "Giant tooth"!
Females seemed to be a lot longer / bigger than the males of the species!
Largest individual megalodon is estimated to be 79.7 feet long.
Extinct!
Cookie cutter sharks have one big saw-like tooth on their bottom jaw!!
They lose the teeth all at once
Their teeth shed like a band! So they lose all of them at once and grow new ones alltogether
The bottom jaw acts as a saw blade!
once they latch on, they spin their body to take out a chunk of the creature they're attacking (Spooky!) like a cookie cutter!
The largest teeth-to-bodysize ratio!
Harmless to humans because of size
their teeth are really thin!
Very disorganized, not in a pattern.
sharp teeth that protrude in all directions!
even when the mouth is shut you can see some of the teeth!
Sand tiger sharks can have up to 44 to 48 teeth in their upper jaw!
Their teeth are similar to bears or wolves or lions!
slow swimmers, but their teeth allow them to consume almost anything they catch!
Solitary!
has 24 teeth each on top and bottom jaw
[48 total teeth]
When they are not born, they don't have the serrations yet! They gain these sharper ridges after birth.
Even their fossilized teeth keep the serrated edges!
If you own any shark teeth, send pictures through the inbox and i'll post it with a little caption or comment!
Send a shark emoji or drawing you did for a shark fact! Use -SharkFactPls in the end of the sentence for it the fact to be recognized!
