Ancient Shark Gang Fed on Giant Plesiosaurs
Some 85 million years ago in a shallow ocean, a handful of miniature great white sharks were pigging out on the carcass of a giant marine reptile called a plesiosaur, a new study suggests.
During this apparent feeding frenzy, some shark teeth got stuck in the plesiosaur's bones, which were subsequently buried and remained undiscovered until a high-school student in Japan found them in 1968. Other shark tooth fossils were found near the bones. Only recently did paleontologists examine and describe the fossils scientifically.
The results, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, bring to light the diet of ancient sharks. And though the study scientists think the ocean feast was one of scavenging, it's possible the shark gang attacked a vulnerable, elderly reptile, now called
Futabasaurus suzukii, while it was alive.
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During this apparent feeding frenzy, some shark teeth got stuck in the plesiosaur's bones, which were subsequently buried and remained undiscovered until a high-school student in Japan found them in 1968. Other shark tooth fossils were found near the bones. Only recently did paleontologists examine and describe the fossils scientifically.
The results, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, bring to light the diet of ancient sharks. And though the study scientists think the ocean feast was one of scavenging, it's possible the shark gang attacked a vulnerable, elderly reptile, now called
Futabasaurus suzukii, while it was alive.