Extant Mustelus asterias (Starry smooth-hound shark) jaw and fins

[MarcoSr]

Here are a Mustelus asterias (Starry smooth-hound shark) jaw and two fins that I recently acquired from TFF member Coco. The jaw is 2.75 inches wide and 2.5 inches high. The pectoral fins are roughly 3.5 inches in length and 4 inches in height.

To better see dermal denticle and tooth details double clique the below pictures. If you mouse over the pictures you will see the file name which has additional positional information.

Here are the pectoral fins:

Continued in the next reply:

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

Here are the dermal denticles on the fins:

Here is the jaw. I want to thank Coco for this great picture. I am unable to take decent pictures of these small jaws with the cameras that I have and the jaws are too big for the microscopes that I have.

A Mustelus jaw and teeth can actually look much more like a number of different ray species than other shark species. The teeth in this jaw do not show much apparent feature variation other than size. The teeth do gradually decrease in size from the symphysis to the extreme posterior portion of both the upper and lower jaws. Plus there are some very small teeth that can be seen in the lower jaw.

Upper jaw symphysis:

Lower jaw symphysis:

Here are some very small teeth in the lower jaw:

Continued in the next reply:

Marco Sr.

Edited April 25, 2016 by MarcoSr

[MarcoSr]

Here are close-ups of teeth in the symphyseal portion of the upper and lower jaw.

Upper jaw left and right side teeth:

Lower jaw left and right side teeth:

Upper jaw extreme left and right side teeth:

Continued in the next reply:

Marco Sr.

Edited April 25, 2016 by MarcoSr

[MarcoSr]

Lower jaw extreme left and right side teeth:

Because of the small size of the teeth especially in the posterior portions of the jaw it was extremely difficult to count the number of tooth files and rows for this jaw.

I can see at least 12 upper rows of teeth.

I can see at least 21 rows of lower teeth (Not counting the rows of very small teeth).

The upper jaw has around 63 upper teeth files total.

The lower jaw has around 72 lower teeth files total.

To get a complete feel for Mustelus asterias jaws and teeth you would really need to look at a lot of different jaws from different localities.

Marco Sr.

Edited April 25, 2016 by MarcoSr