Sharks used to live in Arizona desert

Fossils of some new sharp-toothed sharks have been found in the Arizona state state, with at least three samples dating back 270 million years ago.

According to a report on Historical Biology, experts believe that Arizona used to be the home of a community of sharks that is the most diverse of the green planet in the Middle Permian era, before the dinosaurs appeared.

Fossil specimens of sharks in Arizona

Lead researcher John-Paul Hodnett, of the Northern Arizona Museum, described three fossils in the latest report. Accordingly, the first species is Nanoskalme natans , a shark that is only about 1 meter long with sharp teeth like a blade.

Next is Neosaivodus flagstaffensis , medium-sized, about 2 meters long, an omnivore when grown up. Kaibabvenator swiftae is the largest of these, up to 6 meters long and like cannibalism, like modern giant white sharks.

Hodnett analyzed shark fossils with colleagues David Elliott, Tom Olson and James Wittke. The above fossils were excavated in what is now the Kaibab Limestone area north of Arizona.

According to experts, this place used to be a warm, shallow sea, home to the "shark-eating shark" ecosystem hundreds of millions of years ago.