The question of which animal possesses the greatest number of teeth often leads to guesses like the great white shark or the saltwater crocodile. These predatory vertebrates are famous for their numerous dental arrays. However, the animal kingdom’s true dental champion is a creature most people overlook. This organism’s entire feeding mechanism is built upon a ribbon-like structure housing microscopic denticles, requiring the definition of a “tooth” to be broadened to uncover this surprising record-holder.
Defining Teeth in the Animal Kingdom
True teeth, as found in mammals and other vertebrates, are complex, calcified structures composed primarily of dentin and covered by hard enamel. They are anchored in the jawbone and have a specific biological classification. In contrast, many invertebrates utilize hard structures, often called denticles, that serve the same mechanical purpose of processing food but lack the complex mineralized composition of vertebrate teeth.
These alternative dental structures are typically made of chitin, a tough, fibrous polysaccharide material. This distinction is crucial because the record holder does not possess a traditional jaw or enamel-coated teeth. Their immense numbers are only possible because their dental structures are lightweight, chitinous, and continuously replaceable.
The Animal with the Most Teeth
The unexpected title-holders are the mollusks, specifically gastropods like snails and slugs. The common garden snail can possess an astonishing number of dental structures on its feeding apparatus. An average snail may have anywhere from 14,000 to over 20,000 of these microscopic structures at any given time. This count is housed on a specialized structure called the radula.
Some mollusk species push this number even higher, demonstrating the efficiency of this dental design. The umbrella slug (Umbraculum umbraculum), a type of sea snail, is reported to produce approximately 750,000 teeth over its lifetime. This continual replacement and massive accumulation of minute denticles gives this group the undisputed record for the most teeth.
The Function of the Radula
The radula is a flexible, chitinous ribbon comparable to a tongue, and it is the defining feature of mollusk feeding. This ribbon is covered with thousands of tiny, backward-curving denticles arranged in precise, repeating rows. The structure is supported by a muscular cushion called the odontophore, which allows the radula to be extended and scraped across surfaces.
The primary action of the radula is rasping, where the mollusk uses the structure like a file to scrape microscopic algae, plant matter, or organic film off substrates. As the teeth at the front edge wear down from constant abrasive use, new rows are continuously generated and moved forward from the back. In some marine species, like the limpet, the radular teeth are reinforced with the iron-containing mineral goethite. This mineral reinforcement allows them to graze on extremely hard surfaces without destroying their feeding tool.
Notable High-Count Contenders
While mollusks hold the numerical record, some vertebrates are notable for their high tooth counts using true calcified teeth. Sharks are famous for their polyphyodonty, the ability to continuously replace teeth throughout their lives. Certain shark species may cycle through tens of thousands of teeth in a lifetime, though they only possess a few hundred functional teeth in their multiple rows at any one moment.
The whale shark, a massive filter feeder, can have up to 3,000 tiny teeth arranged in hundreds of rows, though they are not used for feeding. Among mammals, the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) holds the terrestrial record with up to 100 simple, peg-like teeth. These examples pale in comparison to the sheer count of denticles found on the mollusk radula.