Overview
- A peer-reviewed study in Communications Biology details five partly mineralised shark vertebrae recovered from the Early Cretaceous Darwin Formation in northern Australia.
- Comparative scaling models built from modern lamniform datasets, applied to tomographic imaging of the fossils, estimate the shark’s length at roughly 6–8 meters.
- The largest vertebral centrum measures about 12.6 centimeters across, larger than typical great white centra, and indicates affinities with cardabiodontid lamniforms.
- The find shifts the emergence of giant modern-type sharks to around 115 million years ago, pushing previous estimates back by roughly 15 million years.
- Researchers conclude these early giants likely filled top-predator roles alongside plesiosaurs and other marine reptiles in Cretaceous seas.