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Snaggletooth Shark Facts and Information - The Details

The Snaggletooth shark, Hemipristis, is a shark that few people hear about. They use to be very common millions of years ago, but today are restricted to the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. They are known for their odd snaggle-shaped teeth.

First Appearance
The Hemipristis genus first appears in the Eocene as H. curvatus. Their teeth are similar in shape to H. serra but are smaller. This genus is the direct ancestor of H. serra, and it disappeared in the Oligocene as the first occurrence of Hemipristis serra appeared.

Occurence of the Prehistoric Snaggletooth
H. serra can be found in Tertiary fossil deposits on the east coast from Maryland to Florida. These beautiful teeth are also a common find in Tertiary deposits worldwide, from both coasts of North and South America to Europe, Africa, and Australia. This shark clearly had a nearly global distribution in the Tertiary. However as the climate changed, from the warmer Miocene into the cooler climate of today, this species became extinct. They are deemed abundant in Miocene exposures. In Pliocene exposures, they are less numerous, and in the Pleistocene, they became restricted to the tropical waters around Indonesia before finally becoming extinct (Kent, p. 79).

The Living Snaggletooth - Size, Behavior, Distribution, Diet
H. Serras' closest living relative is H. elongata, a slightly smaller snaggletooth which continues to swim in the tropical waters of the Eastern Hemisphere today.

According to Bonfil, H. elongata is an inshore and offshore shark with a distribution in the Indian Ocean, western Pacific, from South Africa to China and Australia, including the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (Bonfil p.15).

Sharks from the Hemigaleidae family (weasel sharks) have a long snout, with horizontally oval eyes, and internal gill openings, and their first dorsal fin is slightly higher than their second dorsal fin (Compagno, p. 28). They also have a plain color pattern, except for light or dark fin edges or tips on some species (Compagno, p. 28).

Hemipristis elongata primarily feed on small bony fish, sharks, and rays. They can reach lengths of up to 2.4 m (7.9 ft) (Bonfil p. 15). Based on tooth size comparisons between H. elongata and H. serra, the fossil species could reach sizes between 3 to 5 m (10 - 16 ft) (Compagno, p. 486). Therefore, H. serra was most likely a larger version of H. elongata, it most likely would have looked and behaved similarly.

H. elongata is listed as vonurable to extinction by the UICN. Their numbers are declining, mainly from overfishing from gill net and trawl fisheries.

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First Articulated Skeleton of a Snaggletooth Shark from the Calvert Cliffs

In October of 2014, Donald Dixon discovered a series of shark vertebrae and teeth while digging a footer for an addition to a house in Calvert County. His brother, an amateur fossil hunter who realized the significance of this find, contacted Dr. Steven Godfrey from the Calvert Marine Museum. Dr. Godfrey quickly conducted an excavation of the fossil shark specimen.

It turned out to be an associated Hemipristis serra fossil shark skeleton, the first complete specimen of its kind! The articulated shark fossil has over 80 vertebrae, jaws and teeth, and even cartileage from the skull. The specimen would have been around 8 to 10 feet in length.

The specimen has been prepped, was briefly on display at the Cavlert Marine Museum, and is now unfortunately in a private collection.

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Snaggletooth Fossil Shark Teeth Design / Information

One obvious aspect of Hemipristis serra shark teeth are their unique design. The fossil shark teeth are easily identifiable from any other shark tooth. The upper laterals are broad and triangular shaped. The fossil shark teeth unmistakable large, course serrations running nearly the length of the blade. The distal serrations tend to be larger than the mesial serrations. Serrations on both sides of the tooth end just before the coronal apex, which is smooth. Upper anterior teeth are narrower than upper laterals. The serrations also run nearly the length of the blade, and end with a smooth coronal apex. They also have a lingual protuberance on the root.

Lower Hemipristis serra shark teeth resemble a different species. They are very similar to sand tiger shark teeth. In fact, some early literature reports them as different species (Cocke, p. 56). The key to identifying lower teeth is they have incomplete cutting edges toward the base of the crown. They also have a pronounced lingual protuberance. Lower anterior teeth only have a small number of serrations on each shoulder, while lower lateral teeth are more serrated, superficially resembling the serrations on upper anterior teeth.

Symphysial teeth look quite different. They are very thin, have a large lingual protuberance, and have 1 or 2 serrations on their shoulders. Upper, lower, and symphyseal teeth are shown in the fossil shark tooth identification images below.

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The Snaggletooth Shark Dentition

The following image is a composite snaggletooth fossil shark dentition (jaw) from isolated fossil shark teeth I found along the Calvert Cliffs of Maryland. It was reconstructed using an illustration of the extant snaggletooth dentition in Kent's book "Fossil Sharks of the Chesapeake Bay Region" and also from viewing the dentition in the Aurora Fossil Museum. There are still a few missing teeth in the dentition.

The following image shows a modern Snaggletooth Shark Jaw (Hemipristis elongata). It looks very similar to Hemipristis serra. The teeth are not as broad as in H. serra.

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Bite / Feeding Pathologies on Fossil Hemipristis Shark Teeth

Out of 206 sampled fossil shark teeth, 8 Hemipristis teeth showed signs of feeding and/or bite damage. This translates to roughly 3.8% of Hemipristis teeth. So, chances are most shark tooth collectors have these type of tooth pathologies in their collections.

Most of these damaged teeth have the mesial cutting edges completely sheared off. This type of feeding damage is very easy to recognize. The following image shows six teeth with this specific damage.
A probable reason for this specific damage is when the wide tooth bites into bone, the biting force can easily shear the fragile serrations off.

Feeding damage from lower Hemipristis teeth can be seen in the image below. Similar to the upper teeth, the blade is sheared off. Notice the smoothness of the shear on the unworn teeth, unlike a tooth that breaks after fossilization.

Also shown is an upper shark tooth with bite marks in it. This fossil tooth probably fell out of the sharks mouth and got punctured by a few lower teeth before falling from the shark.

Finally, the following image shows an upper tooth with bite marks in it. Again, this tooth probably fell out of the sharks mouth and got punctured by a few lower teeth before falling from the shark.

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Fossil Hunting Locations for Hemipristis Shark Teeth

Hemipristis fossils are found world wide in marine Tertiary deposits. In the United States, the fossil teeth and sometimes vertebra are found from California on the Pacific to Florida, northwards to New Jersey on the Atlantic.

Notable places to find Snaggletooth fossils include Venice Beach in Florida, the Peace River of Florida, the mine tailings at the museum in Aurora, North Carolina, and the Calvert Cliffs of Maryland.

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Fossil Examples

Hemipristis serra (Agassiz, 1843) - Maryland
This species lived from the late Oligocene into the early Pleistocene. They are commonly called Snaggeltooth Sharks due to the large serrations on their teeth. Species of Hemipristis are extant today, however, they are only found in tropical waters, and are much smaller than the fossil species. The fossil species are also found worldwide.

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High Quality Shark Teeth by Fossilera

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Castro, Jose L. (1996). Sharks of North American Waters. College Station: Texas AandM University Press.

Hamlett, William C, ed. (1999). Sharks, skates, and rays : the biology of elasmobranch fishes. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.

Michael, Scott W. (1993). Reef sharks and rays of the world : a guide to their identification, behavior, and ecology. Monterey, CA.: Sea Challengers.

Purdy, R., Schneider, V., Appelgate, S., McLellan, J., Meyer, R. & Slaughter, R. (2001). The Neogene Sharks, Rays, and Bony Fishes from Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina. In: Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, III. C. E. Ray & D. J. Bohaska eds. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, No 90. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. pp. 71-202.