Fossil enthusiast finds teeth from mega-shark that ate whales

Ancient teeth of a mega-shark that apparently used to eat whales, has recently been unearthed, which is twice the size of the huge Great White Shark.

While casually walking along the beach in Australia, fossil enthusiast Philip Mullaly came across a giant shark tooth half buried inside a boulder. The tooth was apparently not of a regular shark, but a prehistoric mega-shark tooth, around 2.7-inches long, twice the size of a Greet White’s tooth.

Closer inspection led to an entire set of 40 teeth of the massive mega-shark teeth. “I was immediately excited, it was just perfect and I knew it was an important find that needed to be shared with people,” said Mullaly.

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According to CNET, the teeth were of the Great Jagged Narrow-Toothed Shark (Carcharocles angustidens), a type that roamed oceans near Australia some 25 million years ago. The shark and their teeth grew twice the size of a Great White Shark, potentially nine meters long.

The Great Jagged Narrow-Toothed Shark used to live during the Oligocene ephoch and was a top predator. What’s more astonishing is that these sharks used to prey upon and eat small whales and penguins.

Realizing the great significance of the discovery, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museums Victoria, Erick Fitzgerald who helped in the discovery expressed, “They represent one of just three associated groupings of Carcharocles angustidens teeth in the world, and the very first set to ever be discovered in Australia.”

For now, the fossilized teeth are on display at Melbourne Museum as part of National Science Week set to begin from today, August 9.