Dogfish Shark Skull

Active Learning Kit

Move your students’ learning beyond memorization with this active learning kit covering shark skeletal anatomy, cranial nerves, cranial muscles, jaw biomechanics, and more!

A moving model

Unlike a fixed specimen, this model moves. Thanks to 44 embedded magnets, your students will simulate complex motions such as jaw opening, jaw protrusion, and neurocranial elevation.

Durable details

Printed at 2X life-size in durable PLA plastic, this model of a spiny dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias) will hold up to years of handling and close observation by your students — no jars or alcohol needed.

Durable details

Printed at 2X life-size in durable PLA plastic, this model of the spiny dogfish shark chondrocranium and splanchnocranium (Squalus acanthias) will hold up to years of handling and close observation by your students — no jars or alcohol needed.

Color connections

And consistent color coding of the cartilages and cranial nerves will help your students connect each jaw and branchial element with its corresponding gill arch derivation and innervation.

Ready to use

Your students will start learning right away with freely available, open-source kit activity guides built around core concepts in anatomy, development, biomechanics, and evolution.

Customizable

Want to modify a module or create your own? All the activities are available as a free, open-source Google doc to give you the power to customize and share.

Beyond memorization

Each activity targets higher-order and active learning so that your students will be understanding, analyzing, and evaluating shark cranial anatomy, not just memorizing.

A physical and virtual model

Students often struggle relating 2D to 3D. They’re so accustom to screens that it can be challenging to relate virtual objects to real-life, physical objects. So we’ve created an open-access, virtual version of the dogfish braincase and jaws to build students’ spatial reasoning skills and give them a resource to review outside of lab. Check it out below!

How to use this kit

We specifically designed this active learning kit for use in college courses such as comparative anatomy, vertebrate anatomy, chordate anatomy, ichthyology, shark biology, biomechanics, or any other organismal biology course with in depth coverage of shark anatomy or skull biomechanics. The video below shows how to assemble and simulate jaw motions with the kit with and without muscles attached.

Five-star reviews

Join your colleagues at 30+ institutions who have already ordered one or more kits!

Allegheny College
Clark University
Clemson University
College of the Holy Cross
Cornell University
CSU-San Marcos
Fairfield University
Mount Holyoke College
Northern Arizona University
Providence College
Rhode Island College
Rhodes College
Sacred Heart University
Saint Francis University
Saint Mary’s College
Salisbury University

Seton Hill University
Slippery Rock University
St. Olaf College
Stockton University
UC Irvine
UMass Dartmouth
UMass Lowell
University of Chicago
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
University of Minnesota
University of Montana Western
University of North Florida
University of San Diego
University of South Dakota
University of Washington
Virginia Tech

“…they were so helpful to the students. There was simply not enough drawing… or describing that I could do to get them to understand… the morphology and function of the…skull. The Shark Skull was a game changer in how I teach!”

-Prof. Nicole Danos
University of San Diego

(Read the full review on Google)

“It was very helpful to teach not just the cranial anatomy of sharks, but it had useful applications for the general cranial anatomy of vertebrates… In particular, my students really enjoyed the kinetic aspect…”

-Prof. Noah Bressman
Salisbury University

(Read the full review on Google)

“I purchased numerous… chondrocranium models for use in my comparative anatomy class… The larger than life size of the models was extremely useful to learn the anatomy of the dogfish chondrocranium!”

-Prof. Kyle Mara
University of Southern Indiana

(Read the full review on Google)

“As a functional morphologist that works on feeding in sharks and rays, I can attest to the accuracy of these models…My comparative anatomy, vertebrate biology and marine biology students have all benefited from adding these models to my curriculum…I can’t recommend these enough.”

-Prof. Jason Ramsay
Rhode Island College

(Read the full review on Google)

Kit pricing

The more kits you order, the lower the price per kit! See the table below for the price per kit based on the total number of kits ordered.

Kits ordered / Price per kit

1
2
3
4
5
$469
$389
$369
$359
$349
6
7
8
9
10+
$344
$339
$334
$329
$324

The prices shown above include free shipping within the US. The price is the same for a color-coded or all-white kit and the volume-based pricing applies regardless of whether the kit is color-coded or all-white. Prices are subject to change.

How to order

We accept purchase orders (with payment by check or ACH) and payment by credit card. To get a quote, please email us at contact@3danatomystudios.com and let us know how many kits you’d like to order, how many you’d like color-coded vs. all-white, and your ideal delivery date.

Kit components

Kit part checklist

Need to check that your kit has all of its components or order replacement parts? Download this two-page PDF with images and labels of all the kit components. Note that the paper branchial arches that come with the kit are not cut out; they come as a sheet of card stock paper (see below) and will need to be cut out with a pair of office scissors prior to using the kit. For the previous version of this checklist (with the box-integrated stand, download version 1.1 of this PDF instead).

Branchial arches (color)

If you need to replace the branchial arches in your color-coded kit, just download this PDF and print it out on card stock paper.

Dogfish shark skull branchial arch printable PDF with cut out instructions and color coding by gill arch derivation

Branchial arches (white)

For kits without color coding, download this PDF and print it out on card stock paper.

Updates to this kit

Version 1.2 (released August 22, 2024)

  • Created a Kit Parts Checklist as a downloadable and printable PDF.
  • Replaced the box-integrated stand base piece with an independent standalone 3D printed stand base so that users can work on the kit without the box getting in the way.

Version 1.1 (released March 14, 2024)

  • Beveled the edges of all hooks, pegs and some of the letters on the 3D printed parts to reduce the number of sharp edges and corners.
  • Increased width of all ligament peg bases to lessen the risk of them breaking off.
  • Added graphical separation among constituent elements of branchial arches (pharyngo-, epi-, cerato-, and hyo-) in 2D paper cut-out.
  • For the white version of the kit (not color-coded), removed the roman numeral labels from the brain model since the white version is typically used for student assessment.
  • For the white version of the kit (not color-coded), replaced the multicolored pipe cleaners with white pipe cleaners to remove any color cues since the white version is typically used for student assessment.
  • Created a quick demo video to show how to assemble the shark skull and simulate all the jaw motions with and without muscles attached.

How we made this kit

For more details on how and why we developed this kit, please see the video below.