How large was the shark?

[Wolfehunt]

I have just gotten a great white tooth. It measures right at 61mm or 2.4 inches. I’m curious how large the shark ? Any idea of a calculation? I tried one but I couldn’t make since of it. Help would be awesome. 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Wolfehunt

[siteseer]

20 hours ago, Wolfehunt said:

I have just gotten a great white tooth. It measures right at 61mm or 2.4 inches. I’m curious how large the shark ? Any idea of a calculation? I tried one but I couldn’t make since of it. Help would be awesome. 

 

It's hard to say.  It's too bad that information wasn't included with your purchase.  There really isn't a formula.  There has always been the "rule" of one inch per 10 feet in length but that doesn't work for larger individuals because as the shark reaches maturity, it grows at a slower rate and it fills out more in the body.

 

The largest teeth are the upper anteriors and you have one of those.  Modern great white teeth over 2 inches are rare and a 2 1/4 tooth would be a whole other level of rarity.  I think it would be safe to say that since your tooth is a level of rarity even beyond that, it's probably from a shark among the largest ones caught so I'm thinking an 18-footer +/- maybe a foot and a half to give a range.  I would declare it could be from an individual over 20 feet but you'd think someone would have made the news with that one.  Like I said, it's hard to say but that's an unusually large modern great white tooth.  I've seen a few larger fossil ones.  I used to have a 2 3/4-inch one from Peru.

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by siteseer
typo - changed equals sign to plus sign

[Meganeura]

2 minutes ago, siteseer said:

 

It's hard to say.  It's too bad that information wasn't included with your purchase.  There really isn't a formula.  There has always been the "rule" of one inch per 10 feet in length but that doesn't work for larger individuals because as the shark reaches maturity, it grows at a slower rate and it fills out more in the body.

 

The largest teeth are the upper anteriors and you have one of those.  Modern great white teeth over 2 inches are rare and a 2 1/4 tooth would be a whole other level of rarity.  I think it would be safe to say that since your tooth is a level of rarity even beyond that, it's probably from a shark among the largest ones caught so I'm thinking an 18-footer =/- maybe a foot and a half to give a range.  I would declare it could be from an individual over 20 feet but you'd think someone would have made the news with that one.  Like I said, it's hard to say but that's an unusually large modern great white tooth.  I've seen a few larger fossil ones.  I used to have a 2 3/4-inch one from Peru.

 

I was gonna say... maybe ask the shark? I'm betting it's still around!

[Wolfehunt]

The individual I purchased this from said 19 feet but I wanted to see if I could back that up some how. 

[Wolfehunt]

[Al Dente]

Here’s a graph using tooth width, or a sum of tooth widths which might not be helpful, from this paper-https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2021/673-1140/3312-estimating-lamniform-body-size-figures#f6

 

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Al Dente

[Wolfehunt]

I’ll see if I can figure it out? Lol. If not I’ll just post pictures of the measurements and let some genius figure it out for me 

[Wolfehunt]

Yeah that’s all way to complicated for me. I can’t ever start to figure out what to measure ..:(

[Wolfehunt]

Using this I calculate 20 feet. But I’d feel safer saying it was 18-19 footer. I know my tooth is not the biggest tooth out there. I know of at least 7 teeth that are bigger then mine and maybe 10 others about that same size. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Wolfehunt

[siteseer]

16 hours ago, Wolfehunt said:

Using this I calculate 20 feet. But I’d feel safer saying it was 18-19 footer. I know my tooth is not the biggest tooth out there. I know of at least 7 teeth that are bigger then mine and maybe 10 others about that same size. 

 

It sounds like you have an idea of what's been out on the market and/or you know some of the other collectors into big great whites.  I think you have a good ballpark especially since what your source said fits in that rather tight range.  Among anyone of our species, a tall individual might have smaller teeth than a shorter one.  

 

Knowing that there aren't that many specimens around the size of your tooth and just some larger is good info to have as well. 

[Wolfehunt]

The magnificent 7. These range from 2 5/8  up to the current world record holder (upper center row) for a modern great white 2 3/4 inches