Shark’s Teeth

When sharks lose a tooth, another erupts.
It’s a great thing for a predator that relies on its teeth to make a living,” says Ellen Pikitch, of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. The record-holder is probably the sand tiger shark which can produce 40,000 teeth over a lifetime – assuming it lives that long, a problem in these days of over-fishing. She maintains that sharks play a pivotal role in our ocean ecosystem and it’s not ok to kill them for food or sport or just because people think sharks are dangerous killers. Take away sharks, she says, and we end up compromising the ocean’s immune system. Her office displays handcarved wooden sharks with authentic teeth and the jawbone of a bronze whaler shark – one of the confirmed handful of people-eaters.