Oldest Megamouth Shark on Record Had Chipped Tooth

Based on that tooth, paleontologists have been able to name a previously unknown ancient species of megamouth shark, one that's related to the modern but rarely seen megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios, the researchers said. The newfound species, called Megachasma alisonae, is the oldest megamouth shark on record, and pushes back the existence of megamouth sharks by 13 million years, said the study's lead researcher Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiologist at DePaul University in Chicago. The distinct shape of the ancient tooth — which looks like a pitchfork with a prominent middle point and two side cusps — indicates that M. alisonae ate small fish, likely "by impaling them on the taller centrally placed crown," said study co-author David Ward, a retired research associate in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum in London, in the United Kingdom.

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