Shark Files: Ancient 'Supershark' Unearthed in Texas
Shown is a well-preserved fossil of a 300-million-year-old shark from New Mexico.
Shown is a well-preserved fossil of a 300-million-year-old shark from New Mexico. The new "Texas supershark" fossils (not pictured) are less complete, but suggest the supershark was even larger than the New Mexican shark.
John-Paul Hodnett
Close Encounter With a Great White Shark: Photos
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Great white sharks are the biggest predatory fish in the world. And despite their mass, they can travel at ridiculous speeds, at over 35 miles per hour, to track their prey. Marine biologist Joe Butler traveled with two friends off Hans Bay, South Africa, in hopes of seeing some great whites. Which they did. See more of Butler's story on a new episode of This Happened Here on the Seeker Network. Shark Files: Shark Bite Risk Down 91 Percent Since 1950
Joe Butler
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"In order to bring them in closer, to give everyone a good look, the crew would employ a tuna head on the end of a long rope and drag it out of the way before the shark had a chance to grab it," Butler said. Shark Files: Great White Shark Photobombs Friend
Joe Butler
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This amazing photo, taken from inside the cage, shows the shark grabbing the bait before anyone had a chance to react. "There's actually quite a sobering moment when you realize that proverbially you're the fish out of water, this is their home, and you’re not actually supposed to be there," Butler said. Shark 'Highways' Crisscross The World: Photos
Joe Butler
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"I think a lot people have this image in their head of them being sort of an idealistic predator, but in reality these animals are still quite vulnerable. However, seeing them in their natural environment is something I would recommend to anyone in a heartbeat." Above, Butler (left), prepares to cage dive with his two classmates. Shark Files: Scary Footage Shows 15-Ft Great White In Mass.
Joe Butler
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A mega shark that lived 300 million years ago would have made today's great whites look like shrimps, according to fossils of the beast unearthed in Jacksboro, Texas.
Two species of shark were found living in the caldera of the active, underwater Kavachi volcano in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
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Scientists have dubbed the newfound fossils the "Texas supershark," and the name is fitting: These supersharks were enormous: more than 26 feet (8 meters) long, or more than half the length of a school bus. That's 25 percent larger than the modern great white sharkand more than three times as long as other fossil sharks, including the Goodrichthys eskdalensis shark discovered in Scotland and another newfound shark specimen from New Mexico, both of which measure between 6.5 feet and 8.2 feet (2 m and 2.5 m) from head to tail. ( Earth's largest shark, C. megalodon , could grow up to 60 feet, or 18 m, long during its heyday, between about 16 million and 2.6 million years ago.)
Supershark lived before the age of the dinosaurs, which emerged about 230 million years ago. Until now, the oldest giant shark was found in rocks dating to 130 million years ago. [ 8 Weird Things About Sharks]
Supershark's ancient age makes it a prize find, indicating that giant sharks go back much further in the fossil record than previously thought, the researchers said. They presented their unpublished findings today (Oct. 16) at the 75th annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference, in Dallas, Texas.
When supershark was alive, during the Carboniferous period, a shallow sea called the Western Interior Seaway covered Texas and much of the American West. The fossil remains of the sea's marine life are still being uncovered in the ancient seabed, which is how study co-author Robert Williams, of the Dallas Paleontological Society, discovered the supershark fossils, including two fossil braincases. He also found a number of large and pointy, fossilized shark teeth, but it's unclear whether these belonged to the Texas supershark or to another ancient species, the researchers said.
The braincases, which comprise the back end of the sharks' skulls, resemble the corresponding skull parts of other Paleozoic fossil sharks, but "are clearly different from the far shorter" back skull regions of modern sharks, the researchers said.
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