How Many Teeth Do Sharks Have? Amazing Facts About The Great White Shark

Ayan Banerjee
Oct 13, 2022 By Ayan Banerjee
Originally Published on Mar 09, 2022
Edited by Katherine Cook
Fact-checked by Sonali Rawat
How many teeth do sharks have? Want to learn more facts about the white shark? The white shark has thousands of teeth!
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Age: 3-18
Read time: 8.7 Min

What can you see while taking an underwater selfie with a shark?

Teeth! The fact that sharks have those nice, shiny strong teeth to show off, the smile of sharks must be exceptionally cool to see.

The earliest known sharks can be traced back to over 420 million years ago. Acanthodians are an extinct paraphyletic class of animals, which are believed to have led to the development of Chondrichthyes.

Sharks are often found 2,000 ft (609.6 m) deep and live in almost every sea. The largest shark in the world is considered to be the whale shark which grows to 40 ft (12 m) total in length.

The Chondrichthyes class, which are cartilaginous fishes that have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage, do not live in freshwater. The bull shark and the river shark are both able to live in freshwater.

People are known to kill sharks inhumanely, such as for shark fin soup and shark meat. Due to overfishing, many shark populations have the conservation status of Threatened.

Sharks were known as sea dogs until the 16th century, and one of the largest predators in the world is still named dogfish or the porbeagle. Sharks replace their teeth often.

Great white sharks, for example, can replace up to 350 teeth at one time. Sharks break or lose teeth within a week when they bite the flesh of animals present in the water.

If you enjoyed this article, why not take a look at how many stomachs does a goat have or how many stomachs does a cow have here on Kidadl!

Why do sharks have so many teeth?

Due to the evolution of sharks' jaws, they have developed the ability to produce powerful bites that make them the most dangerous predatorial body in the ocean. As you can see there are many questions that people ask about sharks and their sharp teeth like, how do sharks keep their teeth so sharp and why does this matter?

A shark uses its teeth to prey on its meal. Sharks usually lose several teeth when they bite into their prey.

Sharks are one of the most dangerous predators present in the marine system. There are many types of sharks that can be found in oceans around the world. Not all sharks are similar or dangerous.

For example, there are sharks, like whale sharks and basking sharks, that don't have shark-like teeth. The whale shark has 3,000 teeth in its mouth but these are used for eating plankton. Like humans, sharks have a soft tissue-like material called dentin inside their mouths.

They also have hard enamel that is covered in resin. Megalodon teeth are among the most valuable shark teeth since Megalodons are an extinct species.

How many teeth do great white sharks have?

To know the exact number of teeth per jaw a shark has completely depends on what type of shark it is. There are a number of sharks species present in the world, like the blue shark, blacktip shark, nurse shark, requiem shark, sand tiger shark, tiger shark, bull shark, and great white.

Each shark's characteristics differ from each other such as their lifespan, teeth, size, and many more characteristics. Great white sharks have as many as 300 teeth and tiger sharks have 24 rows of sharp teeth.

Unlike humans, sharks are born with teeth. They develop in conveyor-belt rows.

As they grow, the bigger teeth appear outward and replace the front teeth when lost. They break a tooth present behind the rows every week in most cases.

Around 350 teeth is considered an average amount for sharks. Movies and other television shows have shown and told us a lot about a white shark but in reality, the shark is not so fearsome to look at.

Obviously, the total number of teeth in its large mouth and its great body may scare you in a movie, but there is a lot more to know about this great white shark. This species of fish called the great white shark prefers to live in the coastal regions of the ocean areas.

You will be interested to know about the greatest predator's habits of hunting and habitat.

This white shark has thousands of teeth in its mouth, which are replaceable and are used in many contexts by human beings too. Because of these reasons, this species of white shark is hunted by humans.

In South Africa, there are many fascinating sightings of great white sharks. There have also been many encounters with humans.

The mysterious disappearance of the shark in False Bay has captivated the media and the public. These are some of the fun and interesting facts that you should know if you ever get to see white sharks in the wild.

Great whites are very curious about everything. These white sharks will poke their head out of the water to see what is actually happening, when in fact it is only a boat passing through. In spite of the feeling to scare you, they actually want to know what's going on.

This behavior is called spy-hopping. White sharks are one of the few marine fish that are interested in the things happening outside the water. They keep their body near to the surface and poke around.

In South Africa, drones are used to spot sharks from the sky. This helps people to know more about the behaviors of sharks and try to know and learn more about shark-human interactions.

The white shark has large fins which are common to any other shark species and those fins are similar to fingerprints. Also, the fins of a white shark help it to swim as this shark is also known for its long-distance swimming.

A shark's sharp knife-like teeth can cut anything in front of it and were used as weapons for thousands of years

Great White Shark Teeth Facts

The great white shark usually has rows of teeth behind the main teeth in its mouth. This is one of the main reasons the great white shark is famous because its mouth is very similar to a cat's claw which can move to its place when the jaw is opened.

The teeth of white sharks are not attached to the jaws. These great white sharks have serrated and blade-like sharp teeth because of which it is counted in the strongest hunting fish list.

This hunting fish often has 23-28 rows of teeth in the upper jaw and a set of 20-26 rows of teeth in the lower jaw.

The size of these teeth is very large and these can grow up to 6.6 in (16.7 cm) in height. The white shark's teeth are very unique as the teeth of this fish can rotate on an axis, moving outward when the jaw is opened showing its rage and attacking feature.

The teeth again move inwards when the jaw closes.

This great white shark is one of the most notorious shark species because of its prey catching skill and power. Though it is also known for the white shark's 300 serrated teeth which are designed to rip and grab its prey or the flesh.

Their teeth are very similar to a fork or knife that is used by human beings during their meal.

The upper jaw's first two rows of teeth are used to grab and tear the animal or small fishes that they bite into as their food is present in the ocean. When the front tooth is lost or they break the tooth, those teeth present behind take place of the front teeth.

What shark has the most teeth?

The whale shark is said to have around 3000 teeth, which is the most of its kind! In honor of these animals, we've gathered some of the most ridiculous shark facts you'll ever find.

The Megalodon was a great white shark that had teeth that were bigger than those of a great white. These teeth are valuable as they can be collected and sold.

Sharks usually lose several teeth when they bite into a meal, including plankton and other small fishes present in the ocean. Being able to replace their teeth easily makes them feel good about themselves and allows them to continue hunting in the ocean.

This process is very commonly seen in sharks throughout their lifetime.

Even though they look very scary, sharks have been known to use their teeth for various purposes. In Venice, Florida, they have a shark tooth festival every year.

In August, a week is celebrated for the shark tooth.

The shark you can see in the movie 'Jaws' was inspired by the great white shark. But in real life, the shark is actually less fearsome than shown in the movie.

Great white sharks live in cold, coastal waters around the many oceans and sea.

The great white is the largest ocean predator that is present on earth at the moment. The average size of growth of this great white shark is 15 ft (4.6 m) in length.

Although other specimens have been recorded to grow up to 20 ft (6 m), weighing up to 5000 lb (2267.9 kg).

These great white sharks have a body color that can blend with the coastal rocky areas of the sea and water bodies. They are grayish white in color with the number of teeth in their mouth in the thousands.

In each jaw, there is a row of teeth behind the jaw and so whenever a shark breaks or loses a tooth, it can easily replace its teeth throughout its lifetime.

This white shark teeth system is very unique. The white shark generally has the largest and sharpest teeth, just like a knife that a human being uses for cutting.

People in these coastal areas where great white sharks are found give them a name that they know is kept for their underbellies.

The ocean body's most strong predator has adapted its habits to hunt and live its life inside the water, like its mouth is lined up with a row of lose 300 serrated shark teeth in a triangular shape which are arranged in a number of rows present in a great white shark's upper and lower jaws.

These ocean body creatures can smell and see their prey from a distance within the ocean, including plankton and also the small fishes.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for how many teeth do sharks have then why not take a look athow many teeth do alligators have or how many teeth do snails have.

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Written by Ayan Banerjee

Bachelor of Science specializing in Nautical Science

Ayan Banerjee picture

Ayan BanerjeeBachelor of Science specializing in Nautical Science

Thanks to his degree in nautical science from T.S. Chanakya, IMU Navi Mumbai Campus, Ayan excels at producing high-quality content across a range of genres, with a strong foundation in technical writing. Ayan's contributions as an esteemed member of the editorial board of The Indian Cadet magazine and a valued member of the Chanakya Literary Committee showcase his writing skills. In his free time, Ayan stays active through sports such as badminton, table tennis, trekking, and running marathons. His passion for travel and music also inspire his writing, providing valuable insights.

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Fact-checked by Sonali Rawat

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English Literature, Masters of Art specializing in English and Communication Skills

Sonali Rawat picture

Sonali RawatBachelor of Arts specializing in English Literature, Masters of Art specializing in English and Communication Skills

Sonali has a Bachelor's degree in English literature from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and is currently pursuing a Master's in English and Communication from Christ University. With considerable experience in writing about lifestyle topics, including travel and health, she has a passion for Japanese culture, especially fashion, and anime, and has written on the subject before. Sonali has event managed a creative-writing festival and coordinated a student magazine at her university. Her favorite authors are Toni Morrison and Anita Desai.

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