Shark Tooth

A shark tooth is one of the numerous teeth of a shark. Sharks continually shed their teeth, and some Carcharhiniformes shed approximately 35,000 teeth in a lifetime. In some geological formations, shark's teeth are a common fossil. These fossils can be analyzed for information on shark evolution and biology, especially because the teeth are often the only part of the shark to be fossilized, in fact fossil teeth comprise much of the fossil record of the Elasmobranchii, extending back hundreds of millions of years.

The most ancient types of sharks date back to 450 million years ago, during the Late Ordovician period, and they are mostly known from their fossilised teeth. The most commonly found fossil shark's teeth are, however, from the Cenozoic (the last 65 million years).

Read more about Shark Tooth:  Function, Counting, Tool Use By Humans, See Also

Famous quotes containing the words shark and/or tooth:

    Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear—
    And he shows them pearly white—
    Just a jackknife has Macheath, dear—
    And he keeps it out of sight.
    Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)

    Before me you are a slug in the sun. You are privy to a great becoming and you recognize nothing. You are an ant in the afterbirth. It is in your nature to do one thing correctly: tremble.
    Michael Mann, U.S. screenwriter. Frances Dollarhyde, aka “The Tooth Fairy” (Tom Noonan)