Aug 27, 2025 04:15 PM
‘Built for cutting flesh, not resisting acidity’: sharks may be losing deadly teeth to ocean acidification
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1094556
INTRO: Sharks can famously replace their teeth, with new ones always growing as they’re using up the current set. As sharks rely on their teeth to catch prey, this is vital to the survival of one of the oceans’ top predators.
But the ability to regrow teeth might not be enough to ensure they can withstand the pressures of a warming world where oceans are getting more acidic, new research has found. Researchers in Germany examined sharks’ teeth under different ocean acidification scenarios and showed that more acidic oceans lead to more brittle and weaker teeth.
“Shark teeth, despite being composed of highly mineralized phosphates, are still vulnerable to corrosion under future ocean acidification scenarios,” said first author of the Frontiers in Marine Science article, Maximilian Baum, a biologist at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU). “They are high developed weapons built for cutting flesh, not resisting ocean acid. Our results show just how vulnerable even nature’s sharpest weapons can be.” (MORE - details, no ads)
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1094556
INTRO: Sharks can famously replace their teeth, with new ones always growing as they’re using up the current set. As sharks rely on their teeth to catch prey, this is vital to the survival of one of the oceans’ top predators.
But the ability to regrow teeth might not be enough to ensure they can withstand the pressures of a warming world where oceans are getting more acidic, new research has found. Researchers in Germany examined sharks’ teeth under different ocean acidification scenarios and showed that more acidic oceans lead to more brittle and weaker teeth.
“Shark teeth, despite being composed of highly mineralized phosphates, are still vulnerable to corrosion under future ocean acidification scenarios,” said first author of the Frontiers in Marine Science article, Maximilian Baum, a biologist at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU). “They are high developed weapons built for cutting flesh, not resisting ocean acid. Our results show just how vulnerable even nature’s sharpest weapons can be.” (MORE - details, no ads)