Scientists have found the fossilized remains of a 10 metre long shark in Kansas. They found a jawbone and huge tooth plates, which they believe it used to crush large shellfish like giant clams. The shark is called Ptychodus mortoni, and sounds as though it is the largest shellfish eating animal ever found.
They only have fragments of the jaw but have estimated that the whole jaw would have been 1 metre long, suggesting that the shark was around 10 metres long. It’s also difficult to tell what the shark would have looked like, but scientists are speculating that it would have been shaped like a modern-day nurse shark such as the one shown here. However it would have behaved more like a sluggish bottom-dweller.
Other remains have been found before, but none that suggested that the shark could grow this big.
The photos were taken from the BBC’s website, where you can read more.
