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Striae
Trigonognathus kabeyai Mochizuki & Ohe, 1990
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The teeth striae of the viper dogfish Trigonognathus kabeyai were observed. The shark used was a 22.5 cm long male caught in Suruga Bay. In order to adapt to deep-sea hunting, the shark's symphysial teeth were made very large by inventing a symphysial cartilage, which is the base of the symphysial teeth. The shape of the jaw was also modified to be triangular*1. This observation reveals that this shark did not simply enlarge its symphysial teeth for deep-sea hunting. This tooth is strongly bent lingually, but to strengthen the bent area, the normally flat and thin labial face is made even thicker than the striated lingual face! This strengthening strategy is also seen in the frilled shark. The roots of these teeth are flattened to ride on the chair made of the symphysial cartilage that protects the jaw joints. The ingenuity and inventiveness of this shark for hunting in the deep sea is very interesting.

Fig. 1: Teeth of T.kabeyai, male 22.5 cm, Suruga Bay

Ref. 1; Trigonognathus

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