Largetooth Cookiecutter Shark

Overview

The largetooth cookiecutter shark is an uncommon species recognized by its distinctively massive lower teeth, which are proportionately the largest found in any living shark. While it shares a similar cigar-shaped body form and parasitic feeding strategy with its relative, the standard cookiecutter shark, this species is encountered far less frequently. Because scientists have only examined a small number of specimens from scattered global locations, much of its everyday life history remains poorly understood.

Appearance

This shark features a small, elongated body paired with a short, bulbous snout and eyes set well forward on the head. Unlike its more common relative, it lacks the dark collar marking around the throat and does not have dark tips on its caudal fin. Its most striking feature is its mouth structure, which holds gigantic, triangular-cusped lower teeth arranged in fewer rows than the upper jaw.

Feeding

Like other members of its genus, this species feeds by acting as a marine ectoparasite on larger animals. Using specialized suctorial lips to latch onto prey, it employs its massive lower teeth to gouge and twist out plug-shaped chunks of flesh from bony fishes, sharks, and large marine mammals such as whales and dolphins. Its exceptionally large teeth allow it to inflict wider and deeper wounds than other cookiecutter sharks.