A pilot study to understand tooth replacement in near-harvest farmed saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus): Implications for blemish induction

Abstract Saltwater crocodiles ( Crocodylus porosus ) are farmed in Australia primarily for their belly skin. The desirability and ultimately the value of each skin depends on the extent and location of various industry-defined defects. Anecdotal observations suggest that conspecific interactions are the main contributors with the protrusive 4th dentary teeth (i.e. eye teeth) the most likely cause. It is well known that crocodilians undergo continual tooth replacement, yet no study has investigated tooth replacement rates or tooth growth dynamics in juvenile saltwater crocodiles. In this pilot study, we repeatedly measured eye tooth crown height and observed eye tooth replacement in individually-housed juvenile saltwater crocodiles ( n  = 98) accounting for 290 individual teeth. The majority of teeth were replaced every three to six months ( n  = 172) but nine teeth were not replaced over the 15-month study period. After a tooth was lost, the need to replace it quickly was evidenced by a faster tooth growth rate in the first three months (11.07 ± 0.17 mm) but subsequently slowed to a model-adjusted asymptote of 14.03 ± 0.27 mm ( p p