THE SHARKS

Cow Shark
Notorynchus sp. (Ayres)

Age - Tertiary  Commonality - Uncommon

The cutting-grasping dentition of the cow shark is unique and makes these teeth highly distinctive. Identification of the different species is difficult, several distinctive tooth forms occur within each species along with differences between the sexes. To compound the problem, cow shark teeth are very fragile and most specimens are found broken.
 

Lower lateral
Monmouth County, NJ
 

Notorhynchus sp.
 Top: Upper lateral (side) & anterior (middle),
 lingual teeth on left.
 Bottom: Lower lateral female (left) & male (right)
 lingual above & labial below, female width 33 mm
 Photo from Elasmo.com Bill Heim

A very nice specimen of Notorhynchus primigenius from Aurora.
Early Pliocene epoch
Beaufort County—Aurora, NC

 

Notorhynchus sp.
An assortment of fragments including some uppers.
Monmouth County, NJ
 

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