THE SHARKS

The Goblin Shark
Scapanorhynchus texanus (Roemer)

Age - Cretaceous  Commonality - Abundant

The goblin is one of the more commonly found teeth in New Jersey. Widespread in North America during the late Cretaceous these teeth come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This can be a little intimidating to the beginner trying to identify finds. The anterior teeth of Scapanorhynchus texanus look completely different from the lateral teeth. The anterior teeth have a long slender crown that is usually sigmoidal when viewed in profile with strong to coarse striations. The roots have a pronounced lingual protuberance and a deep nutrient grove. The lateral teeth are more blade like and the root more compressed with a reduced lingual protuberance and nutrient groove. The cusplets on anterior teeth may or may not be present, when present are usually reduced in nature. On lateral teeth the cusplets have a triangular shape and there may be a smaller secondary set of cusplets. The teeth range in size from 3/4 to 2 inches in length. Both anterior and lateral teeth have complete cutting edges.
 

2 Anterior, 2 Lateral and one posterior tooth of the goblin shark.
 A  nutrient grove is one of the main characteristics of all goblin teeth.
Scale 1 inch
Monmouth County, NJ.
 

Anterior Scapanorhynchus texanus
The crown has an elongated "S" shape with coarse striations.
There is a pronounced lingual protuberance and a deep nutrient grove
on the root.
The cusplets are absent on this specimen.
 

Anterior goblin with cusplets. The deep nutrient grove is apparent
in this image.
Note how the striations extent from the crown into the root, this is
 a distinct characteristic of S. texanus, but very prone to stream wear.
 

Lingual view of S. texanus lateral teeth.
The lateral teeth are more blade like and the root more compressed
 with a reduced lingual protuberance and nutrient groove. The coarse striations
associated with the anterior teeth become greatly diminished if visible at all.
 

The basil margin of the goblin is straight across.
See the goblin, sand tiger comparison page.
Labial view, Monmouth County, NJ
 

Very few of the lateral teeth of  S. texanus show any visible
 striations on the crown. A closer examination of where the
crown meets the root often shows just a hint of the striations
which appear more like small ridges.
 

The cusplets on the lateral teeth are normally triangular in shape
and very prone to snapping off due to tumbling in the stream.
There is some variation in the cusplets, the most common is a second
set of cusplets or rarely a third.
 

A riker mount full of goblins, all shapes and sizes.
Note how large the laterals can be. These large laterals are
not everyday finds but do popup every now and then.
 

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