Dentition facilitates the release of encapsulated Ragged-tooth Shark (Carcharias taurus) embryos

Heterodonty and ontogenetic shift dynamics in the dentition of the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier (Chondrichthyes, Galeocerdidae)

“…Late embryos close to birth again exhibit functional, ‘adult‐type’ teeth (Tomita et al, 2017 ). Other lamniform sharks with documented functional embryonic dentitions include the sand tiger shark Carcharias taurus (Shimada, 2002b ), which reportedly develop functional, peg‐like teeth very early during development to free themselves from the egg cases and to feed subsequently on their younger siblings (Naidoo et al, 2017 ). The specialized nourishment during the embryonic development allows both C. carcharias and C. taurus to have large pups but relatively small litter sizes (Ebert et al, 2013 ), in contrast to tiger sharks with smaller pups but large litter sizes between six and 82 young per litter (mean number of around 30) (Bigelow & Schroeder, 1948 ; Simpfendorfer, 1992 ).…”

“…Late embryos close to birth again exhibit functional, 'adult-type' teeth (Tomita et al, 2017). Other lamniform sharks with documented functional embryonic dentitions include the sand tiger shark Carcharias taurus (Shimada, 2002b), which reportedly develop functional, peg-like teeth very early during development to free themselves from the egg cases and to feed subsequently on their younger siblings (Naidoo et al, 2017).…”