Australian scientists find shark graveyard and new species on bottom of ocean

The finds were made across two voyages on the RV Investigator, which explored Australia’s newest marine parks; the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Marine Park in the remote Indian Ocean, and the Gascoyne Marine Park off Western Australia.

The graveyard was discovered at a depth of 5400 metres, near the Cocos (Keeling) Islands by scientists led by the Museums Victoria Research Institute.

Curator of Fishes at the Western Australian Museum, Glenn Moore, said an “interesting mix” of 750 fossilised teeth were found.

The teeth were from both ancient and modern species.

“The teeth look to come from modern sharks, such as mako and (great) white sharks, but also from ancient sharks including the immediate ancestor of the giant megalodon shark,” said Moore.

“This shark evolved into the megalodon, which was the largest of all sharks but died out about 3.5 million years ago.

“It’s incredible to think we’ve collected all these teeth in a net from the seafloor some four to five km below the ocean surface.”

The ancient teeth collected from the graveyard are likely from the megalodon’s closest relative, a shark which grew to over 12 metres long.

The megalodon is considered one of the most fearsome predators in history.

Much about the species is shrouded in mystery, as sharks have cartilage skeletons which don’t preserve well.

The traces normally found of the ancient beast are normally just teeth and vertebrae.

New shark species ‘unique to Australia’

Read Related Also: ‘Suspicious’ blaze lit at Jordan Shanks-Markovina’s home

Fast forwarding several million years, scientists have found a new shark species, and it’s “unique to Australia”.

The animal was found in the Gascoyne Marine Park, in waters over 150 metres deep.

The find has scientists very excited, as little is known about the new species’ behaviour.

“Early in the voyage, we collected a striking small, stripey hornshark,” Dr Will White, a shark expert from CSIRO’s Australian National Fish Collection, said.

“This species is unique to Australia, but it hasn’t yet been described and named.

“The specimen we collected will be incredibly important to science because we’ll use it to describe the species.”

Hornsharks include the well-known Port Jackson shark, and are generally found in shallow waters.

Chief Scientist on the underway voyage, John Keesing from CSIRO, said the discovery of new species was quite common on biodiversity surveys such as this.

“It’s been estimated that around a third of the species collected on recent biodiversity survey voyages on RV Investigator may be new to science,” Keesing.

“The discoveries we make aren’t just limited to new species. These voyages give us the opportunity to learn more about marine ecosystems, as well as species range, abundance and behaviour.”