New species of 65-million-year-old fossil shark discovered in Alabama
By Taylor Lang
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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (WVTM) — A new species of fossil shark has been discovered in Alabama, a team of scientists announced Wednesday.
The shark is a new species named Palaeohypotodus bizzocoi, for the late Dr. Bruce Bizzoco of Birmingham. He served as a dean at Shelton State Community College and as a longtime volunteer at McWane Science Center. Palaeoypotodus means “ancient small-eared tooth.”
This shark has small, needle-like fangs on the side of its teeth that almost look like small teeth on the sides of its teeth.
Because its teeth are very different from sharks today, scientists say it is difficult to determine what the shark may have looked like. The closest connection may be a sand tiger shark.
“A few years ago, I was looking through the historical fossil collections at the Geological Survey in Alabama and came across a small box of shark teeth that were collected over 100 years ago in Wilcox County,” team leader and Director of Collections at McWane Science Center said. “Having documented hundreds of fossil fish species over the last decade, I found it puzzling that these teeth were from a shark that I didn’t recognize.”
The Curator of National History at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, David Cicimurri, said that it was alive right after the extinction of the dinosaurs, approximately 65-million years ago.
The shark was a leading predator during a time when oceans were recovering, according to Cicimurri.
Based on its teeth, the shark may have eaten bony fish, crustaceans and squids.
“This time period is understudied, which makes the discovery of this new shark species that much more significant,” said T. Lynn Harrell Jr., a paleontologist and fossil collections curator at the Geological Survey of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
This shark is the first of the species in the Gulf Coastal Plain region, according to the team.
The team has identified 400 unique species of fossil sharks and bony fishes, which Ebersole states makes Alabama one of the richest places in the world for fossil fish diversity.
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