Tiny Galeocerdo contortus

I didn't really go anywhere to do this post except my fossil room, but a recent forum post inspired me to go hunting for juvenile Galeocerdo contortus teeth.

Most shark tooth hunters eventually come across these extinct tiger shark teeth. They are very common in Oligocene and Miocene sediments and are found in many locations worldwide. It is thought that a tiger shark loses over 10,000 teeth in its lifetime, so its staggering to think of how many of these teeth are out there.

The forum post discussed the paucity of juvenile specimens and postulated that juvenile sharks of the species grew up in some environment other than the preferred feeding ground of the adults.

I started thinking that almost every contortus tiger shark tooth I ever found was about the same size. Surely these sharks weren't born as adults! After looking at tiger shark teeth for almost an hour, I found several small specimens that I submit for your approval.

Of nearly 1000 specimens, these are smallest contortus teeth I could find. I definitely agree with the forum that the birthing grounds for these sharks could not have been the same environment populated by the adults. Else, we all would have these tiny tiger shark teeth in our collections.

Let me mention that all but one of the Summerville teeth came from the same location that was a one of a kind site. A couple of years ago, we ran across a Chandler Bridge location that produced as many small teeth as the Pungo formation. Not an exaggeration! I brought back two 80 gallon garbage cans full of material from this amazing spot because we were finding so many teeth in it. The location produced high numbers of rare teeth - reef shark teeth, angel shark teeth, whale shark teeth, thresher shark teeth, and even several nurse shark teeth - a species hardly ever found in SC. Also found in this location were other common shark teeth like the tiger sharks pictured, various carcharinids, hammerheads, and assorted ray and skate teeth. We also found angustidens, crocodile, barracuda, many fish teeth, and even a bird bone. This was a special location, and it bears mentioning because of the theory that the juveniles grew up somewhere other than where the adults lived.