Shark Graveyard: Strange Fossilised Teeth Found At The Bottom Of The Indian Ocean
The discovery was made off the remote Western Australian coast, by scientists aboard the CSIRO research vessel Investigator while they were doing a biodiversity survey at the new Cocos (keeling) Islands Marine Park.
Researchers from Australia¡¯s National Science Agency CSIRO have discovered a strange shark graveyard, full of fossilised teeth from millions of years ago on the seafloor of the Indian ocean.
CSIRO
The discovery was made off the remote Western Australian coast, by scientists aboard the CSIRO research vessel Investigator while they were doing a biodiversity survey at the new Cocos (keeling) Islands Marine Park.
Scientists earlier thought they had pulled up sediment and manganese nodules. However, when they had a closer look, they were surprised to find over 750 teeth. These were taken from the area near the base of the Muirfield Sea Mountain, southwest of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The haul also included the tooth of a megalodon shark or what looked like its closest ancestor.
Museums Victoria Research Institute collections officer Dianne Bray told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), "It was amazing, it really was. Not all were fossils, some were relatively recent mako sharks and two species of great white shark relatives."
CSIRO
According to Glen Moore, Curator of Fishes at the Western Australian Museum, it was surprising that so many teeth were collected from such a small area on the seafloor.
"We've also found a few mako and white shark teeth during the underway voyage but nothing like the numbers found during the previous voyage. It's incredible to think we've collected all these teeth in a net from the seafloor some 4 to 5 km below the ocean surface," he said.
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