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HEMIPRISTIS
(he-me-priss-tiss)
Hemipristis
Named By: Louis Agassiz
Time Period: Middle Eocene-Recent[1]
Location: Worldwide
Size: Largest living species up to 2.4 meters long, largest H. serra specimens estimated to be about 7 meters long
Diet: Carnivore
Fossil(s): Teeth
Classification: | Chordata | Chondrichthyes | Elasmobranchii | Carcharhiniformes | Hemigaleidae |
Also known as: | Dirrhizodon | Heterogalaeus |
About

Hemipristis is a genus of weasel shark, family Hemigaleidae. It contains one extant species, the snaggletooth shark (H. elongata), as well as several extinct species.

Hemipristis has two distinct type of teeth in each section of its jaw. The ones on the upper jaw act like knives, cutting through the flesh of the prey, while the pointed ones on the bottom act like forks, spearing the prey and holding it down. Because this shark was poorly studied in the past and its top and bottom jaw teeth differ to such a great degree, its top and lower jaw teeth were assigned to a separate genus in the past.

Read more about Hemipristis at Wikipedia
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