Rhincodon (Whale Shark) and Cetorhinus (Basking Shark) extant and fossil teeth

[MarcoSr]

Rhincodon (Whale Shark) and Cetorhinus (Basking Shark) are both filter feeders.  The extant species are Rhincodon typus and Cetorhinus maximus.  Their teeth size is very small compared to body size (Rhincodon typus max size: 17 to 21 meters and Cetorhinus maximus max size:  more than 10 meters, Ebert 2013).

Below I show pictures of both extant teeth and fossil teeth.  Both Rhincodon (Whale Shark) and Cetorhinus (Basking Shark) fossil teeth are very uncommon worldwide.  However these teeth can be found regularly at two United States sites.  Cetorhinus teeth are very common from the Miocene Round Mountain Silt Formation (Shark tooth Hill) in Bakersfield, California (Ernst Ranch).  Rhincodon, although not really common, can be found regularly in the Miocene spoil piles from the Lee Creek Mine in Aurora North Carolina.  I show pictures of teeth from both these sites below.

 

Extant Rhincodon typus teeth:

Small tooth section from a jaw (25 mm by 20 mm)

 

 

Multiple views of two teeth (both 4 mm)

 

 

 

Fossil Rhincodon teeth from the Lee Mine, Aurora NC:

Three teeth (all 3.5 m)

 

 

 

 

Extant Cetorhinus maximus teeth:

Small tooth section from a jaw (20 cm by 3 cm)

 

 

 

Multiple views of a single tooth (10 mm) (I have hundreds of fossil teeth from the Ernst Ranch with the largest being only around 7.5 mm).

 

 

 

Fossil Cetorhinus huddlestoni teeth from the Ernst Ranch, Bakersfield CA:

5 teeth (6.5 mm, 6.5 mm, 5 mm, 7 mm & 6 mm)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note the cusplets on the below two teeth (both 3 mm).  Cusplets are a feature of a number of juvenile tooth positions.  The mesial cusplets are reduced or lost, although some are retained in adult teeth Welton 2014.

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Once again, very nice photos and very informative. 

It's great to see these, especially both ancient and modern together. 

[ynot]

Thanks Marco.

Nice to see extant and fossil versions together.

[Darktooth]

Once again great pics. Love the colors on those Bakersfield teeth.

[Auspex]

Marco,

Your network for extant shark teeth must be extensive; I imagine that some of these species are terribly hard to come by!

What teeth in the Calvert Fm. could be confused with Rhincodon? I swear I have a couple look-alikes in a film can somewhere (an aluminum film can, to date the finds).

[MarcoSr]

1 hour ago, Auspex said:

Marco,

Your network for extant shark teeth must be extensive; I imagine that some of these species are terribly hard to come by!

What teeth in the Calvert Fm. could be confused with Rhincodon? I swear I have a couple look-alikes in a film can somewhere (an aluminum film can, to date the finds).

 

Chas

 

I was lucky to buy 20+ very uncommon extant shark species teeth at one time from a jaw/tooth collector who was selling her collection.  She is looking through her remaining specimens for other species that I'm very interested in.  She and her husband wrote a book on fossil and extant shark species that I've had for a while.  It is nice to see that all of her teeth are properly identified.  So many shark teeth and shark jaws are misidentified on web sites like ebay.

 

You may have found Rhincodon teeth.  We find them rarely in the Calvert Formation in Virginia as part of the vertebrate fauna list studies that I'm involved with.  I can't provide pictures because I donate everything that I find as part of the study.

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

2 hours ago, Darktooth said:

Once again great pics. Love the colors on those Bakersfield teeth.

 

I actually feel that STH teeth have the best colors of any teeth from US sites with the possible exception of bone valley teeth.

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

3 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Once again, very nice photos and very informative. 

It's great to see these, especially both ancient and modern together. 

 

2 hours ago, ynot said:

Thanks Marco.

Nice to see extant and fossil versions together.

 

When I make other posts on extant shark teeth, I'll try to include fossil teeth pictures if I have them.

 

Marco Sr.

[Auspex]

44 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

You may have found Rhincodon teeth.  We find them rarely in the Calvert Formation in Virginia as part of the vertebrate fauna list studies that I'm involved with.  I can't provide pictures because I donate everything that I find as part of the study.

I will have to find that old film can. It is probably in a box (one of many) in my place in Pennsylvania, awaiting my retirement.

[Plantguy]

Wow, those jaw sections are wild. Seeing some of this makes me wonder even more what things I've disposed of or didnt keep....dang it! 

 

Regards, Chris 

[sixgill pete]

Great photos and post Marco. Here are 3 photos of a Cetorhinus sp. from Lee Creek. As you know, they are extremely rare from there. It is 3mm long, 4mm tall.

 

    

 

 

[MarcoSr]

7 minutes ago, sixgill pete said:

Great photos and post Marco. Here are 3 photos of a Cetorhinus sp. from Lee Creek. As you know, they are extremely rare from there. It is 3mm long, 4mm tall.

 

 

 

Don

 

That tooth has really nice color.  I have several Cetorhinus gill rakers from Lee Creek.  I have a couple of possible Cetorhinus teeth but I'm not sure on the id because the teeth are incomplete.

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

41 minutes ago, Plantguy said:

Wow, those jaw sections are wild. Seeing some of this makes me wonder even more what things I've disposed of or didnt keep....dang it! 

 

Regards, Chris 

 

Chris

 

It is really difficult to get even small jaw segments of these two species and even small segments are fairly expensive.

 

Marco Sr.

[doushantuo]

[doushantuo]

Well-preserved C parvus

Marcosr,your photography is to be commended,and then some.

You manage to bring across both the scientific and aestethetic side of things,no mean feat.

The thread gets more awesome by the minute because of your efforts.

One of the best threads around!

 

 

[MarcoSr]

11 hours ago, doushantuo said:

Well-preserved C parvus

 

Marcosr,your photography is to be commended,and then some.

You manage to bring across both the scientific and aestethetic side of things,no mean feat.

The thread gets more awesome by the minute because of your efforts.

One of the best threads around!

 

 

 

Thank you for your very kind words.  I try to take pictures that not only adequately show the relevant tooth features but also show the aesthetic beauty of the specimens.  

 

The features of parvus teeth are quite different from those of extant C. maximus teeth.  In 2013 Welton moved parvus to the genus Keasius.

 

Marco Sr.

[doushantuo]

For those interested:

 

 

[MarcoSr]

15 hours ago, doushantuo said:

For those interested:

 

 

 

Dr. Welton has written a number of papers on basking sharks and has described a number of new species from the West Coast of the US.  When I find a tooth that I think is a basking shark tooth and I want a positive id, I send pictures of the tooth to Dr. Welton for his opinion.  He is always interested in seeing good pictures of basking shark teeth and gill rakers from the East Coast of the US.

 

Marco Sr.