Dicentrodus possessed bicuspid teeth with a flat base and nonserrated or finely serrated, labio-lingually compressed, highly unequal cusps. Originally known from the late Visean–early Serpukhovian of Scotland (D. bicuspidatus), it is now known also to occur in the middle Visean of North America. This is the earliest occurrence of a xenacanthid yet reported from North America; its presence is based on incomplete teeth, which are easily distinguished from other xenacanthid genera. The cross-continental distribution of Dicentrodus, like that of other xenacanthid genera, can be explained by an increasing body of data that intimate that xenacanthids were euryhaline sharks and not restricted to a freshwater habitat.

Thirteen fragments of fossil elasmobranchs can be identified with certainty from East Kirkton. Those collected in situ range from Units 32 to 37. The remains appear to come from two different families of sharks: spines which show features typical of the Lower Carboniferous hybodont Tristychius arcuatus Agassiz; teeth from a xenacanth which fall within the size range of those found in the Lower Carboniferous xenacanth Diplodoselache woodi Dick. Both these genera are found in other Oil-Shale assemblages in the Lothians. These rare shark fossils reinforce the evidence that the East Kirkton Limestone was fresh water in origin.