News Animals

This ‘ghost shark’ has teeth on its forehead

Until now, scientists thought vertebrate teeth occurred exclusively in the mouth

A close-up photo of a brown ghost shark with white spots along its body, large dark eyes and prominent fins, swimming near seaweed and rocks on the ocean floor.

Between the eyes of this spotted ratfish lies a retractable tooth-tipped structure used during mating.

K.E. Cohen et al/PNAS 2025

By Meghan Rosen

Some male “ghost sharks” have a bizarre way of giving love bites: They use teeth that sprout from their foreheads.

These otherworldly animals, also known as spotted ratfish, can grab onto mates using teeth that project from a finger of flesh between their eyes.