Megalodon ancestor teeth found in giant shark graveyard
An amazing shark graveyard containing hundreds of teeth has been found by scientists three miles under the sea.
The discovery, at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, features a mixture of more recent teeth - belonging to mako and great white sharks - and those that are thought to be millions of years old.
Pic: Museums Victoria/Ben Healley
It's these older teeth that researchers believe belonged to the direct predecessor of the Megalodon - the largest shark that ever lived — with this particular shark growing to an estimated 39 feet in length.
Dr Glenn Moore, curator of fishes at the Western Australian Museum, explained how the teeth - sharks are cartilage so only their teeth remain - are from a combination of both modern and ancient sharks.
He said: "The teeth look to come from modern sharks, such as mako and white sharks, but also from ancient sharks including the immediate ancestor of the giant megalodon shark."
The Megalodon and its relatives may be long gone, but this species of sharks continue to fascinate, and although they may no longer swim in our oceans they will be swimming onto cinema screens again in 2023.
The Megalodon surfaces to be king of the ocean again thanks to both The Meg 2 - its director Ben Wheatley is a huge JAWS fan - and The Black Demon.
And no doubt filmmakers are hoping that these sharks will also be king at the box office, after all the original The Meg (2018) is the third highest grossing shark film after Steven Spielberg's JAWS (1975) and its sequel JAWS 2 (1978).