Mega-shark teeth found on Australian surfing beach
A RARE set of teeth from a prehistoric shark twice the size of the great white have been found on an Australian beach by an amateur enthusiast.
Philip Mullaly was strolling along an area known as a fossil hotspot in Jan Juc, about 60 miles from Melbourne, when he made the find.
“I was walking along the beach looking for fossils, turned and saw this shining glint in a boulder and saw a quarter of the tooth exposed,” he said.
“I was immediately excited, it was just perfect and I knew it was an important find that needed to be shared with people.”
He told Museums Victoria, and Dr Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology, confirmed the 2.7in-long teeth were from an extinct species of predator known as the great jagged narrow-toothed shark (Carcharocles angustidens).
The shark, which dominated Australia’s oceans around 25 million years ago, feasting on small whales and penguins and could grow to more than 30ft long. “These teeth are of interna- tional significance, as 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,” Dr Fitzgerald said. He explained that almost all shark fossils were just single teeth as the predators lose up to a tooth a day and cartilage, the material their skeleton is made of, did not readily fossilise.
Dr Fitzgerald led two expeditions earlier this year to excavate the site, collecting more than 40 teeth in total.
Most came from the mega-shark, but several smaller teeth were also found from the sixgill shark (Hexanchus), which still exists today.
Museums Victoria palaeontologist Tim Ziegler said the sixgill teeth were from several different individuals and would have become dislodged as they scavenged on the carcass of the Carcharocles angustidens after it died.
“The stench of blood and decaying flesh would have drawn scavengers from far around,” he added.