The tooth-whorl represented all the teeth produced by that individual in the lower jaw; as the individual grew, the older, smaller teeth were moved into the center of the whorl by larger, newer teeth appearing. Models of the Helicoprion tooth-whorl have been made. In the 1994 book Planet Ocean: A Story of Life, the Sea, and Dancing to the Fossil Record, author Brad Matsen and artist Ray Troll describe and depict an example of such a model.