Edestus is a genus of shark

Shark

Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....

 that lived throughout the world's oceans during the late Carboniferous

Carboniferous

The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...

. All of the species are known only from their teeth. The term "edestid" is often used to refer to any or all members of the order

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

 Eugeneodontiformes, though, strictly speaking, "edestid" should be used only to refer to members of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Edestidae

Edestidae

Edestidae is an extinct and poorly known family of sharks. They possessed a unique "tooth-whorl" on the symphysis of the lower jaw as well as pectoral fins supported by long radials. The palatoquadrate was either fused to the skull or reduced. It is possible that they may belong to...

.

Like its other relatives, such as Helicoprion

Helicoprion

Helicoprion was a long-lived genus of shark-like cartilaginous fish that first arose in the oceans of the late Carboniferous , survived the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event, and eventually went extinct during the early Triassic some ....

, and unlike modern sharks, the species of Edestus grew teeth in curved brackets, and did not shed the teeth as they became worn.