Cue theJawstheme strain …
The remains of a huge shark skull have been found embed in the wall ofa cave inKentucky . This might be a long , recollective way from the sea today , but the discovery shows that this ancient hugger-mugger maze was once riddled with sharks .
A field team from Maryland - National Capital Park and Planning Commission ’s Dinosaur Parkrecently discoveredthe unexampled fossilized skull in the Mammoth Cave National Park , the domain ’s longest known cave system that extends for at least 643 klick ( 400 miles ) .
This is far from the first grounds of sharks in this cave arrangement . The Mammoth Cave National Park Fossil Shark Research Project has already discovered over 100 single specimens of sharks here . Most of this evidence come in the form of tooth , which incline to persist very well preserved over the course of study of millennium as they ’re made out of the super - tough substance atomic number 20 inorganic phosphate .
A skull , on the other hand , is a much rarer find as shark ’s skeleton are made of cartilage , not bone . The fossilized remains included a lower jaw , some cranial gristle , and several teeth . The shark , thought to be an extinct species known asSaivodus striatus , was about the size of it of a modern - day Great White , between 3.4 to 4 meters ( 11 to 13 feet ) long .
“ The saving of these shark fossils is superb , ” the Mammoth Cave National Park Fossil said in aFacebook post .
“ Because the cave is not exposed to external elements such as rain , snow , and flatus , the pace of erosion of the limestone in the cave is sluggish so fossils tend to be very elaborate and mostly intact . ”
shark experience in this area around 330 million years ago . Sometimes known as the former Mississippian period , this was a meter when much of the Mississippi River valley was submerged submersed , carry some from 358.9 to 323.2 million years ago . As a issue , you may find a surprising amount of marine fossils in the area , despite it being some 850 kilometers ( 528 miles ) from the modern - sidereal day coastline .
shark have been around for at least450 million years – that ’s older than tree and dinosaur . While the discovery of ancient shark in the Mississippi River valley might not be totally surprising , this new discovery is gainsay some of our knowledge of this secret catamenia in North America .
" There ’s just ever any record at all of sharks ' teeth descend from these rocks . So that was exciting , ” John - Paul Hodnett , a palaeontologist and program coordinator at Dinosaur Park in Maryland , toldCNN . " So this is a brand new phonograph record of sharks from a exceptional layer of time . "
