Fish
Helicoprion
Its teeth formed a spiral in its lower jaw.
Helicoprion had a spiral of teeth in its lower jaw, one of the strangest mouths in the fossil record.
Three stages. One companion.
Game artwork
AI-generated, stylized game illustrations. These designs and growth stages are imaginative, not scientific reconstructions.
Helicoprion at a glance
- Diet
- Carnivore
- It is interpreted as a consumer of other animals. Hunting and scavenging are not mutually exclusive behaviors.
- When it lived
- Permian
- Group
- Helicoprionidae
- Helicoprionids
- Fossil locations
- Russia, Australia
- Places where fossils have been found
Beyond the game
The real Helicoprion
Although it looked like a shark, it belonged to the holocephalan lineage, represented today by chimaeras. Its unusual teeth inspired the name “spiral saw” in 1899.
Its broad outline resembled a shark, but it belonged to the chimaera branch. Its dental structure helped reveal a relationship that its silhouette alone did not make obvious.
This grouping describes evolutionary relationships. Its members share ancestors; they do not form a chain in which one must turn into another.
Fossil discoveries
Selected fossil records · present-day map
Map references
Map: Natural Earth, public domain. Fossil records: linked collections and publications.Sources & text credits
Explore the references behind this profile.
- Helicoprion
Wikipedia contributors · Spanish source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
- Helicoprion
Wikipedia contributors · English source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
- Helicoprionidae
Wikipedia contributors · English source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
Educational text adapted in English from the existing Wikipedia-backed Dinosgacha catalogue and linked articles by Wikipedia contributors.
Existing English translations have been selected and arranged for this encyclopedia. Repeated period and diet text is omitted where those fields already carry it. Unknown facts remain unfilled; unreviewed geological age phrases are omitted and period labels replace numerical ages.
The adapted educational text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. This text license does not apply to the game illustrations.