You’ll Never Guess How Powerful Tiger Shark Teeth Are

Over 500 species of sharks exist in our oceans today, ranging from hammerheads (Sphyrnidae) to tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvieri). Sharks can differ in many ways, including diet, size, aggression, habitat, and physical characteristics. One especially distinctive factor between sharks is their teeth. Nurse shark teeth, for example, are small and better for crushing crustacean shells. Goblin shark teeth are thin and pointed, perfectly suited for the squid in their deep-sea environment. Tiger shark teeth stand out because of their size, shape, and overall force. Over millions of years, these sharks’ teeth have evolved to create one of the most effective shearing tools you’ll find in nature. Ready to learn more about tiger sharks’ powerful teeth? Let’s dive in (but not literally).

Tiger Sharks are Apex Predators

Before we start talking about tiger shark teeth, get to know the shark that these teeth come from. Tiger sharks, like many other shark species (but not all of them), are solitary creatures. They tend to live and hunt by themselves outside of breeding season. Interestingly, in 2024, researchers, including Dr. Molly Scott from the University of Hawai’i, saw tiger sharks and oceanic whitetip sharks (another solitary species) peacefully feeding together on a whale carcass.

Tiger sharks are named for the dark stripes on their bodies when they’re young, though these stripes fade and may disappear as the sharks grow older. With a lifespan of around 27 years, they spend most of their lives without these stripes. Seeing a tiger shark in the ocean would spark fear in a lot of people. After all, tiger sharks can be huge! They can reach lengths between 10 to 20 feet and weigh up to 1,900 pounds. Along with great white sharks and bull sharks, tiger sharks are known to attack humans unprovoked. Researchers have identified 142 tiger shark attacks in history, of which 39 were fatal. Although these attacks can be incredibly damaging, they are considered rare.

Tiger Shark Teeth: How Many Do They Have?

Unlike sharks like the whale shark, which has an astounding 3,000 teeth, or great white sharks, which have 300 teeth, tiger sharks have significantly fewer teeth. Both the upper and lower jaws have 24 teeth each, for a total of 48 teeth. Kelly Link, the Associate Curator of Fish and Invertebrates at the Georgia Aquarium, has been working with sharks and rays since she first joined the team as an entry-level aquarist in 2004. She explains that tiger sharks are polyphyodonts, which is a scientific way of saying that they continually replace teeth throughout their life.

“The teeth aren’t really cycling through on a timeline,” she shares. “As teeth are damaged or fall out, new teeth will come in to replace them. That process can be pretty quick, with new teeth moving into place in a day or so.”

Tiger Shark Teeth Have a Distinctive Shape

Tiger shark teeth are immediately recognizable for their distinctive shape and numerous serrations. “The teeth have a primary serrated edge and a smaller serrated part at the base,” says Kelly.

A study from the University of Vienna found that tiger shark embryos form teeth in the womb without serrations, but develop small serrations before birth. Primary serrations continue to form throughout life, and secondary serrations at later points when the shark is closer to full size.

Even though tiger sharks are slow swimmers, they are highly effective ambush hunters and will largely eat anything they can catch. “Tiger sharks are more generalist feeders,” says Jesse Anderson, a fossil enthusiast and shark tooth expert known online as The Tooth Detective.

Unlike other sharks, “whose pointed teeth are more designed for catching slippery fish,” Jesse states, “tiger shark teeth are better for tougher prey because these teeth have a lower profile: they are thicker and closer to the cartilage, making it easier to apply more pressure and avoid breaking teeth as easily.”

What Do Tiger Sharks Eat?

Tiger sharks are not picky eaters. They are known to eat:

• Jellyfish

• Bony fish

• Rays

• Crustaceans

• Mollusks and cephalopods

• Seals

• Sea turtles

The latter is particularly interesting. Sea turtle shells are pretty strong. As a result, sea turtles don’t necessarily have many predators outside of killer whales and certain sharks.

As Kelly explains, “Tiger shark teeth have evolved to allow them to eat sea turtles. Their teeth can bite through a turtle shell effectively, acting kind of like a can opener. When not eating turtles, their teeth are able to cut through any prey items, including marine mammals.”

Since tiger sharks have teeth that mirror each other (i.e., some point in one direction and some in the other), they are remarkably effective at ripping and tearing prey into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Because of increasing ocean pollution, tiger sharks have also been known to ingest unusual items. “There have been reports of things like license plates being found,” Kelly shares. “They can regurgitate anything that can’t be digested, while anything digestible will pass through normally. However, I don’t think they’ve been ingesting plastic long enough to have developed any evolutionary adaptations in their teeth yet.”

Tiger Shark Tooth Strength

Not all tiger shark teeth are the same size. Some are smaller, but some can grow up to two inches in length. These powerful teeth contain a soft dentine core and a “hard and mineral-rich enameloid” on the outside. Enameloid is incredibly tough and strong, just like a tiger shark bite. An experiment by Brocq Maxey, an underwater photographer, set out to understand the bite force of a tiger shark and to see how it compared to the bite force of a hammerhead. Using a custom-made bite force gauge, he found that a nine-foot-long tiger shark had a bite force of 864 pounds. Other estimates suggest a bite force of 325 pounds per square inch.

For Fossil Hunters, Look Out for These Tiger Shark Teeth Colors

While in the tiger shark’s mouth, the teeth are generally pearly or bright white. However, there are exceptions for both extant (living) and fossilized shark teeth, which people might find washed up on a beach or in fossil formations such as Calvert Cliffs State Park.

“The colors of a tooth are not unique to a certain species,” reports Jesse Anderson, a fossil enthusiast and shark tooth expert known online as The Tooth Detective. “More so, the color comes from the sediment that they were lying in and, sometimes, fossilized in. The roots are always black if fossilized.” Colors may range from gray and mottled white to brown or black. Fossilized tiger shark teeth are often black and shiny.

In some cases, tiger shark teeth found after they fall out of the mouth may have a rare color known as “Carolina Cream,” which is unique to teeth found in the Carolinas. However, if you’re a tooth hunter, you’re more likely to find a fossilized black tooth than anything else.

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