-təˌdē noun plural
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from Heterodontus, type genus + -idae
: a family of small sharks (suborder Squaloidea) having a few recent representatives in warm parts of the Pacific and Indian oceans but known since Jurassic times, bearing two dorsal fins each armed with a spine, and having the posterior teeth arranged in a dense pavement adapted for crushing the shells of mollusks — see heterodontus