Which animal has the longest teeth? The largest teeth in the world

The teeth of various animals, depending on the purpose, have a very different structure. But now we want to tell you about ten animals with the most incredible teeth:

1. A squid that has grown human teeth

Have you ever seen a set of human teeth in a squid's mouth? The "Promacthoteuthis sulcus" squid is a true nightmare squid that rises from the dark depths of the ocean. Fortunately, these teeth only look intimidating.

These incisors of the squid are actually his lips. Like many members of the cephalopod class, this squid species has a beak, but its unique curled lips mask it. What is the point then? - you ask. Do not be afraid of these pseudo-teeth, be afraid of the powerful beak hidden behind them. But what is even worse - be afraid of decompression sickness and excruciating pressure if you see at least one of them, because in order to see him you will have to be hundreds of meters under water and in complete darkness.

2. The jawless animal that won the "Sharpest Teeth in the World" award

What animal can have the sharpest teeth of all creatures and at the same time have no jaws? The prehistoric condont, of course! These animals, whose body length was 5 centimeters, inhabited the Earth 200 million years ago, cutting their food with teeth that were thinner than a human hair.

The image above is a scan of a micrograph of a condont's teeth that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Science does not know much about these ancient eels, but it does know that they could cut you open if at least one of these specimens got under your skin. Good news? They became extinct a long time ago.

3. Gudgeon (Dragonfish), in which teeth grow on the tongue

Don't think you can get off easy if the gudgeon gags at you with its teeth - in addition to its usual set of sharp teeth, this deep-sea fish has teeth growing on its tongue!

Despite their intimidating appearance, the size of these creatures does not exceed 15 centimeters, so in fact they do not pose any threat. In addition, they live in great depths, so they never attack people. Gudgeon lives in complete darkness and is almost blind, it uses alternative methods of orientation in space to survive and get food in an almost uninhabited environment.

4. Prehistoric shark, the length of the teeth of which exceeded 15 centimeters v

How did it happen that a prehistoric shark, whose teeth were more than 15 centimeters long, became extinct? There was not a single creature that could not tear Megalodon apart, but, apparently, climatic changes influenced its disappearance.

The length of the Megalodon was more than 20 meters, and during its life it changed about 20,000 teeth, losing and growing them in the same way as the existing sharks do. The Megalodon is regarded by many paleontologists as the most powerful creature ever to exist on earth.

5. The animal with the largest number of teeth and the least number of limbs

Snails have more teeth than any other animal, however, their "teeth" are not exactly the teeth that we imagine. Despite possessing thousands of teeth, snails cannot chew their food. This is because they use radulas, which are like ribbons studded with teeth, to grind their food and prepare it for absorption.

Throughout the mollusk's life, these tiny teeth become dull, fall out, and are replaced by new, sharp teeth.

6. A fish that can tear a cow to pieces in a matter of seconds

Piranha is one of the most famous fish with a bad reputation, sharp teeth like razor-sharp teeth and a tendency to attack large animals in schools. While in Brazil, Theodore Roosevelt witnessed a school of piranhas rip a cow apart in seconds. This "feat" is proof of how sharp their teeth are, adapted for tearing off pieces of flesh.

Typically, piranha teeth are triangular in shape, which provides better grip and allows piranhas to easily tear their prey to pieces. They are famous for gnawing on prey, leaving behind only a pile of bones.

7. Poisonous snakes that store their venom in their teeth

Poisonous snakes have hollow teeth, which allows them to store and inject venom into their prey. The venom-producing gland leads to the snake's teeth and supplies the venom at the moment of attack, while the small teeth on the snake's lower jaw only serve to capture prey.

The snake's teeth are either folded or raised. This means that the snake does not stick its teeth out until the moment when it is ready to attack.

8. Whales with hair growing instead of teeth

The guys on How Stuff Works made a great analogy that will serve us well in our discussion of the teeth of baleen whales. The set of their teeth looks more like a huge mustache located in the mouth. Moreover, as in most human whiskers, food gathers on the whale's whiskers. Thus, the whale opens its mouth, sucks in water, and passes it through its whiskers, while krill and other delicacies remain in its mouth.

9. On the palate of the convict fish there are teeth similar to human

The Sheepshead fish is a widespread fish in North America and is hunted by many anglers. But what people don't notice is how strange the fish's teeth are. The human-like teeth that this species of fish have are strange in themselves, but they also have a row of teeth on the palate.
The teeth of this fish are quite blunt, so they are mainly used to split shellfish and oysters, which, together with crustaceans, make up the main diet of the Convict Fish.

10. An animal whose tooth growth is similar to the growth of trees

Unfortunately, looking at a dolphin and determining its age is a little more difficult than you imagine. And although their teeth are an excellent indicator of their age, in order to determine the age you will have to pull out one of the dolphin's teeth and cut it in half. There are growth rings on the teeth of dolphins, exactly the same ones that can be found on the felling of a tree, this allows scientists to calculate the approximate age of dolphins.

Ecology

The animal world may seem full of all sorts of horrors, although, of course, many of the terrible creatures may be far enough away from us, or, fortunately, we may not even be aware of their existence. But for the most curious, we suggest learning about which animals' mouths are scary to look into because of their menacing teeth. With all this, these animals can look very harmless until ... they open their jaws.

1) Mixin's "alien teeth"

The gluttony of these creatures is legendary. Animals often eat fish caught in the nets, therefore, by doing so, they bring a lot of harm to the fishing industry. Similar to an enormous worm, the mixina has an impressive jaw with an interesting arrangement of sharp teeth arranged in several rows.

Ironically, despite the presence of such a menacing jaw, the mixine doesn't have to use it to stay full. She knows how to "feed" on the skin, strange as it may sound. Mixina floats in rotten water next to the decaying corpses of living beings, absorbing their wonderful cadaveric juices through the pores on the skin.

2) Knife teeth of sea leatherback turtles

Leatherback turtles are fairly large reptiles that are actually the largest turtles on the planet. Unlike many other harmless grass-eating turtles, these monsters have a very terrifying jaw, which they need to feed on molluscs, crustaceans and juvenile fish.

In their mouths, these turtles have a whole bunch of teeth, similar to stalactites in a cave, which grow from completely different sides of the jaws and even in the throat. Leatherback turtles are also not averse to feasting on jellyfish, although due to the fact that jellyfish practically do not have any nutrients, poor predators have to eat up to 73 percent of their body weight daily.

Due to the fact that turtles can hardly distinguish plastic bags floating in the water from jellyfish, their numbers are significantly reduced due to debris in the oceans.

3) Vampire fangs of vampire fish

You've heard of piranhas for a long time - small round fish with sharp teeth that devour almost everything in their path. But have you ever thought about who can feed on the piranhas themselves? This is the Mackerel Hydrolic, called the "vampire fish".

To survive in a river like the Amazon, you need to stock up on effective weapons, in particular the sharp fangs that the hydrolic has. In the mouth of this fish there are teeth of different sizes, but very sharp, some of which reach a length of up to 15 centimeters.

It is interesting that mackerel hydrolics are closely related to piranhas, but this does not prevent predators from hunting the poor relatives of piranhas most often. Despite the fact that there were no cases of attacks on people in hydrolics, it is still advised to stay away from the waters in which they live.

4) The Saw Teeth of the Voracious Glowing Shark

Imagine that you are in the dark salty sea depths, where you accidentally fought off a group of divers, and there is nothing around but hopeless darkness and dead silence. It is in such conditions that deep-sea glowing sharks live, which appear only after sunset and swim in pitch darkness in search of prey. These fish are only 5 centimeters long, but have the largest teeth in relation to body size.

Due to the fact that luminous sharks cannot boast of large body sizes, they have learned to attack large fish and animals, biting off pieces of meat from them and immediately disappearing. In English the name of this shark "cookie cutter" translates as cookie cutter, which is quite understandable, knowing about the dastardly habits of this predator. Shark victims - whales, large fish, dolphins - do not die, but only remain with wounds that gradually heal, leaving scars. Cases of attacks on a person were also recorded.

5) Amazing Penguin Teeth

You may wonder what is so frightening about penguins? If they did harm, they would hardly become one of the most beloved characters in children's cartoons. However, if you look into a penguin's mouth, you will notice something very dangerous and threatening - sharp teeth.

Teeth are found on all sides inside the penguin's mouth, including the lower and upper jaw of the beak and even the tongue. Since penguins prefer to swallow their prey whole, they must somehow grab and hold it, this is where the ubiquitous teeth help. The spiky mouth and tongue act like a conveyor belt that moves food in one direction.

6) Woodpecker's tongue-dart

Everyone knows about the woodpecker's ability to gouge tree trunks at great speed, but few know about the amazing properties of its language. This tongue is almost three times longer than the beak itself, and also has an amazing hook at the end, allowing the birds to get their own treats.

One can only guess how such a long tongue can fit in a bird's mouth. It turns out that when the tongue is not needed, the woodpecker wraps it around the back of the skull, it passes near the eyes, and its end reaches the very nostrils. Amazing trick!

7) Human teeth paku fish

We return to the Amazon River again and this time to get acquainted with another interesting jaw, namely, the jaw belonging to the pacu fish. Outwardly, this fish is not much different from other standard fish with scales and fins, but if you look into the mouth of this fish, you will be very surprised: the pacu fish have human teeth!

Why would nature need to copy itself? Perhaps this is due to the fact that teeth like those of humans do an excellent job of chewing almost any food, including seeds and nuts, which is not typical for fish.

Have you ever seen a set of human teeth in a squid's mouth? And the teeth growing on the tongue? Maybe teeth 15 cm long? - Meet the most incredible teeth in the aquatic world.

Squid that has grown human teeth

The "Promacthoteuthis sulcus" squid is a true nightmare squid that rises from the dark depths of the ocean. Fortunately, these teeth only look intimidating.

The jawless animal that won the World's Sharpest Teeth award

What animal can have the sharpest teeth of all creatures and at the same time have no jaws? The prehistoric condont, of course! These animals, whose body length was 5 centimeters, inhabited the Earth 200 million years ago, cutting their food with teeth that were thinner than a human hair.

Gudgeon (Dragonfish), in which teeth grow on the tongue

Don't think you can get off easy if the gudgeon gags at you with its teeth - in addition to its usual set of sharp teeth, this deep-sea fish has teeth growing on its tongue!

Prehistoric shark with teeth exceeding 15 centimeters

How did it happen that a prehistoric shark, whose teeth were more than 15 centimeters long, became extinct? There was not a single creature that could not tear Megalodon apart, but, apparently, climatic changes influenced its disappearance.

Batizaurus

The name Bathysaurus ferox sounds like a dinosaur, which, in principle, is not far from the truth. Bathysaurus ferox is a deep-sea lizardhead that lives in the tropical and subtropical seas of the world, at depths ranging from 600 to 3500 meters. Its length reaches 50–65 centimeters. It is considered the deepest living superpredator in the world. And all from the fact that he devours any creature that comes his way. As soon as the jaws of this devilish fish slam shut, the game is over. Even her tongue is dotted with razor-sharp fangs.

A fish that can rip a cow to pieces in seconds

Piranha is one of the most famous fish with a bad reputation, sharp teeth like razor-sharp teeth and a tendency to attack large animals in schools. While in Brazil, Theodore Roosevelt witnessed a school of piranhas rip a cow apart in seconds. This "feat" is proof of how sharp their teeth are, adapted for tearing off pieces of flesh.

Whales with hair growing instead of teeth

The guys on How Stuff Works made a great analogy that will serve us well in our discussion of the teeth of baleen whales. The set of their teeth looks more like a huge mustache located in the mouth. Moreover, as in most human whiskers, food gathers on the whale's whiskers. Thus, the whale opens its mouth, sucks in water, and passes it through its whiskers, while krill and other delicacies remain in its mouth.

Idiakant

Idiacanthidae are small, rather rare deep-sea fish of the Idiacanthidae family. Most common in tropical and temperate waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Males are no longer than 7 cm and look more like a larva than a fish: there are no teeth, as well as the antennae characteristic of females at the bottom of the head. But their photophore is very well developed and occupies 1/3 of the head. It is interesting that the digestive system of males degrades by the period of puberty, they stop feeding and from that moment their life expectancy is only a couple of weeks. During this period, males passively hover in the water column at a depth of 1–2 km, and with their huge photophores attract females to mating. The latter are larger and reach a length of as much as half a meter. The huge mouth, dotted with sharp crooked teeth, never closes. An antennae departs from the chin, which, at times, exceeds the length of the head by 3 times and ends with a thickening at the end. The skin is dark, coal-black, and has no scales. Scattered all over the body are purple and golden photophores.

On the palate of the convict fish are teeth similar to human

The Sheepshead fish is a widespread fish in North America and is hunted by many anglers. But what people don't notice is how strange the fish's teeth are. The human-like teeth that this species of fish have are strange in themselves, but they also have a row of teeth on the palate.
The teeth of this fish are quite blunt, so they are mainly used to split shellfish and oysters, which, together with crustaceans, make up the main diet of the Convict Fish.

Sabertooth

Sabretooth is a deep-sea fish that lives in tropical and temperate zones at a depth of 200 to 5000 m. It grows up to 15 centimeters in length and weighs only 120 grams. The most remarkable thing about her is two long canines, which are located on the lower jaw. In relation to the body, these are the longest teeth in fish known to science. And so that the saber-toothed could close its mouth, nature endowed it with special grooves in the upper jaw and divided the fish's brain into two parts.

An animal that grows teeth similar to the growth of trees

Unfortunately, looking at a dolphin and determining its age is a little more difficult than you imagine. And although their teeth are an excellent indicator of their age, in order to determine the age you will have to pull out one of the dolphin's teeth and cut it in half. There are growth rings on the teeth of dolphins, exactly the same ones that can be found on the felling of a tree, this allows scientists to calculate the approximate age of dolphins.

1. Unusual squid

2. Condont

4. Megalodons

1. Unusual squid

Have you ever seen human teeth in the mouth of a squid? Promacthoteuthis sulcus is the squid from your nightmares, coming straight from the depths of the ocean. Fortunately, those teeth aren't nearly as bad if you look closely.

These "teeth" are actually his lips! Like many cephalopods, Promacthoteuthis sulcus has a special organ - a beak, which is precisely closed by these lips. What's the bottom line? Do not be afraid of pseudo-teeth, be afraid of the powerful beak hiding behind them. And what else? It is also worth fearing death from incredible pressure, since in order to see one of these creatures, you will have to descend hundreds of meters under the water into complete darkness.

2. Condont

Which animal has the sharpest teeth without jaws? At the prehistoric Condont, of course! These creatures, a couple of inches in size, inhabited the planet about 200 million years ago, cutting their food with teeth thinner than a human hair.

A photo is a scanning micrograph of a condont's teeth that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Little is known about these ancient eels, but we know for sure that if these creatures got on your skin, they would instantly cut you into small pieces. Good news? They became extinct many years ago.

Do not even hope that you will be able to avoid being bitten by the dragon fish when it comes across your path one day. Deep-sea fish, in addition to incredibly sharp teeth on the jaws, has teeth even on the tongue!

Despite their frightening appearance, the size of these fish is no more than half a foot, so they do not pose a particular threat (moreover, they live in deep waters, so they never attack people). The dragon fish is in complete darkness and is practically blind, it uses other methods to survive and find food in a practically lifeless habitat.

4. Megalodons

How did it happen that a prehistoric shark with half a foot long teeth completely disappeared? There was no living thing that Megalodon could not destroy. But, unfortunately, the climate change did not allow this species to survive.

Megalodons were 67 feet long and replaced about 20,000 teeth in their lifetime. Teeth fell out and new ones appeared: changes that are characteristic of modern sharks today. Megalodons are considered the most powerful animals of all time by many paleontologists.

Snails have more teeth than any animal, although their teeth do not have the typical appearance that we are used to thinking. Snails, with thousands of teeth, are unable to chew their food. This is because they use radules: grater-like devices covered with teeth. They thoroughly grind food, thus preparing it for digestion.

During the life of the mollusk, the teeth become dull, fall out and are replaced by new, sharp teeth.

Piranha is one of the most famous fish due to its sharp teeth and the ability to attack large animals in the most brutal manner. Theodore Roosevelt, visiting Brazil, saw piranhas tear a whole cow to shreds in a matter of seconds. This, like nothing, better confirms the incredible sharpness of the teeth and the ability to tear flesh with ease.

Piranhas have unusual triangular teeth that allow them to form a tight block to enhance their tearing ability. They completely gnaw their prey and leave behind only a pile of bones.

Venomous snakes have hollow teeth, allowing them to store and inject venom into their prey. The poison-producing gland approaches the tooth cavity and allows the poisonous liquid to be injected at the time of the attack, and the small teeth on the lower jaw only serve to firmly fix the prey.

The teeth of the snake can be hidden or raised, which means the ability of these animals to change their shape specifically for attack.

The teeth are more like a huge mustache inside the mouth of a whale. In addition, their "whiskers", like some human ones, are able to "catch" food. Whales open their mouths and take in water, and with the help of whiskers-teeth, crustaceans and other edible trifles linger inside.

The convict fish is a fairly common fish in North America, and is also a cherished goal of many fishermen. However, many people underestimate her strong teeth! The teeth of these fish are very similar to human teeth, which is already terribly strange to itself. But on top of all this, they also have a row of teeth in the sky.

The teeth of this fish are relatively dull, so their main purpose is to crush the shells of various mollusks. Shellfish and crustaceans are the main diet of convict fish.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine the age of a dolphin just by its appearance. While the teeth in this situation can serve as a reliable indicator: you need to remove one, saw it in half and examine it carefully. The peculiarity of the dolphin's teeth is the annual rings, just like those of trees. Having counted their number, scientists can safely assume the age of the animal.

These animals, even within one species, may have a different number of teeth - from 8 to 100. Such a great variability is characteristic only of armadillos. The teeth of animals are devoid of enamel, roots and have the same cylindrical shape. Such inconstancy does not allow him to overtake other animals in the number of teeth.

Small animals up to 50 cm long have up to 50 teeth. On the upper jaw there are five incisors on each side, on the lower - four (archaic dental formula). The canines are developed, the molars are acutely tuberous.

Nambat or marsupial anteater is one of the most toothy animals in the world, at least terrestrial. They have more than fifty teeth. True, the teeth of the marsupial anteater are small and of approximately the same shape - they are intended for grinding the fragile shells of insects. It has fifty small incisors. Their only task is to pierce insect shells.

The sea giant has 60 teeth. In the British Museum there is a sperm whale jaw (lower), the length of which is as much as 5 meters. It is believed to have been the jaw of a 27-meter male. Now individuals of this size are no longer found. Interestingly, one of the ways to determine the age of toothed whales is a longitudinal section of the tooth, namely, by counting the layers in the dentin of the tooth.

The most toothy reptile, of course, is a crocodile, or rather an alligator. Alligators, which are part of the crocodile squad, are carriers of about 80 teeth, which replace each other as they wear out and fall out. It's also worth noting that the teeth also help distinguish the alligator from other crocodile species. When the jaws of an alligator are closed, all of its teeth are hidden, while in other crocodiles, the teeth of the lower jaw are often visible.

This vampire sticks 270 fangs into the victim's skin. The leech uses its sharp small teeth to pierce the skin of warm-blooded animals. The leech has three jaws - 2 lateral and 1 dorsal. Each of them is endowed with about 80-90 teeth.

In the mouth of this formidable predator there are about 2-3 thousand teeth, which are located in several rows, but only the first two rows are active, while the other rows are spare. Also with the teeth - new ones take the place of old ones or those that have fallen out. The shape of the teeth of sharks is subulate or triangular. They are covered with enamel, and their edges are piercing or cutting.

On the tongue of the slug there are about 30 thousand small teeth. The naked slug is a gastropod mollusc. It is covered in mucus, which remains where it crawls. With the help of its toothy grating tongue, the slug eats berries, fruits, sometimes vegetables, and can even make holes in the leaves.

A predator, the lucky owner of the most powerful dagger-fangs. To tear off a piece of meat and immediately swallow - this is the true purpose of the "jaws of death".

The elephant has only 6 teeth, but what! Every day this animal processes tens of kilograms of food - not every enamel can withstand such a load. That is why the elephant has large teeth, and he changes them quite often - in the 2nd, 5th, 9th and 15th years of life.