Bizarre Edestus Shark Tooth - Illinois

This is a very unusual and hard to acquire offering of a fossil tooth still attached to a bit of jaw from the Carboniferous aged shark, Edestus heinrichi. These rare teeth are recovered deep underground in the coal mines of Illinois. The tooth is in excellent condition with shiny black enamel and well defined serrations.

Edestus was a was a very unusual shark that is only known from it's teeth and jaw sections. It's estimated they could reach 20 feet in length, about the same size as a modern great white. Like it's other relatives like Helicoprion it did not shed it's teeth as they became worn. This caused the jaws to become elongated and resemble a monstrous pair of shears. It's unclear how these sharks would have caught and ate their prey with this jaw configuration.