Super shark

A mega shark that lived 300 million years ago would have made today’s great whites look like small, according to fossils of the beast unearthed in Jacksboro, Texas.

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 shark and 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 2.6 million years ago.

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 Texas supershark was roughly more than 26 feet long.

CREDIT: John-Paul Hodnett
Worldwildlife.org