Serrations On Shark Teeth Wearing Away?

[CSTsurgical1005]

I have recently been hunting several times at Green Mill Run and am impressed at the sheer number of sharks teeth there, while at the same time saddened by the great number of teeth that are worn down, broken and chipped away. That being said, I got to thinking upon trying to ID sevral teeth, is it possible for some teeth to be so worn down that the serrations themselves are worn smooth making the serrations disappear altogether?

Edited July 20, 2014 by CSTsurgical1005

[Auspex]

The short answer is "yes", but such a heavy state of wear would be obvious in other ways as well.

[Wendell Ricketts]

First, a general observation: GMR has to be one of the most over-hunted sites in the entire U.S. If collectors want to continue to be able to find material there that’s worth carrying home, it'd take a group moratorium on collecting for at least a couple of years. What you find is not just worn by the stream itself, but by being dug up and shaken on screens, over and over and over again. In a lot of cases at this point, you’re just digging up other people’s discards.... Second, by way of response: It somewhat depends upon how pronounced the serrations were in the first place in the species in question, though I doubt I’m telling you anything you don’t already know. If the serrations were very fine or subtle, you might find a worn tooth on which they'd completely disappeared. The general condition of the tooth will be a clue. In other words, if the root, cusps (if any) or tip are in decent shape, but the blade doesn’t seem to have serrations, then probably that's at least a suggestion that there weren’t any to start with. Alternately, if the whole thing looks worn, then you might start to think that things like cusps or serrations have been worn away, too. I'm not suggesting that all parts of a tooth necessarly wear absolutely uniformly, but just by way of orienting yourself....

Best,

W.