Bizarre Sharks: The Freaky 400-Million-Year-Old Apex Predators | The Ancients
The Ancients
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51m
Did you know fossil sharks are older than the dinosaurs and even the rings of Saturn?
Tristan Hughes and leading palaeontologist Professor John Long delve into the epic evolutionary journey of these ocean survivors, from the earliest microscopic scales to the monstrous apex predators of the 'Golden Age of Sharks'. Professor Long, an expert in early sharks and fossil fish, details the explosion of shark diversity during the Devonian and Carboniferous periods (419 to 300 million years ago).
We discover how the cartilage skeleton gave them an advantage over armoured fish (placoderms), the rise of colossal hunters like Tenacanthus, the bizarre buzzsaw shark (Helicoprion) with a circular jaw, and how their survival was secured by adapting to diverse environments, including deep ocean and freshwater rivers. We also cover the incredible discovery of the 380-million-year-old Gogoselachus in Australia.
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