When people think of animals with the most teeth, sharks often come to mind first—thanks to their rows of sharp, menacing teeth featured in movies and documentaries. Sharks do have an impressive dental setup, but they don’t hold the record for the most teeth. Let’s dive into the facts and compare!
Sharks and Their Impressive Teeth
Sharks are famous for their multiple rows of teeth that continuously replace throughout their lifetime, like a conveyor belt system.
- A Great White Shark typically has about 300 teeth at any one time, arranged in up to 7 rows (with around 50 exposed in the front for biting).
- Over a lifetime, a shark can go through 20,000 to 50,000 teeth, depending on the species, as they lose and regrow them constantly.
- These teeth are serrated and triangular, perfect for slicing through prey like seals or fish.
Here are some close-up views of shark teeth:
Sharks are tooth replacement champions among vertebrates, but for sheer number in the mouth at once?
The Real Champions: Snails and Slugs
The animal with the most teeth is actually a type of gastropod (snails and slugs). Their “teeth” are on a ribbon-like structure called a radula, used for scraping food like algae or sponges.
- Common garden snails have around 14,000 to 25,000 microscopic teeth.
- Some sea slugs, like the umbrella slug (Umbraculum umbraculum), produce up to 750,000 teeth over their lifetime (according to Guinness World Records), constantly replacing them as they wear down.
- At any one time, they can have thousands on their radula.
Here’s what a snail’s radula teeth look like under magnification:
Other Contenders
- Giant Armadillo: The land mammal with the most teeth up to 100 peg-like teeth for grinding insects.
Images of armadillo teeth/skulls:
- Some catfish have thousands of tiny teeth, but still far fewer than gastropods.
Why the Myth About Sharks?
Sharks get the spotlight because their teeth are large, visible, and terrifying ideal for a top predator. But in terms of raw numbers, tiny invertebrates like snails and slugs win by a landslide with their microscopic radula teeth.
Nature is full of surprises! If you’re fascinated by ocean predators, sharks are still unbeatable in the “most intimidating smile” category. What other animal facts would you like to explore?
