25-million-year old shark tooth found in Australia

Sydney : A group of Australian researchers found tooth belinging to a 25 million year old shark from a beach in Australia.

The fossilised tooth of an extinct mega-toothed shark Carcharocles angustidens, which could grow up to 9 metres long, was found by paleontologists from Museums Victoria and a local scientist in the coastal town of Jan Juc, about 100 km southwest of Melbourne, reports Efe news.

The tooth belongs to Sixgill shark (Hexanchus) which is believed to lose one tooth per day but with an ability to regenerate another one. In addition, the cartilage - the material a shark skeleton is made of - does not easily fossilise.

Remains of the "Carcharocles angustidens", which is twice as big as great white sharks, were first sighted by Philip Mullaly, who was walking down the beach Jan Juc, known to be one of Australia's most important fossil sites.

He spotted a shining material and found it to be the fossil. Later his team exacavated the area and discovered more of it.

Most of them belonged to the Carcharocles angustidens and others to a smaller species called Sixgill shark, an animal that still inhabits the coasts of Victoria state.

The Sixgill nowadays feed on the remains of whales and other animals, a lifestyle they seem to have maintained for millions of years.