Heliocoprionids
Heliocoprionid sp.
Timeline: Late Permian (299-251 Million years ago)
Maximum size: Uncertain
Predator advantage: teeth
Likely prey: Fishes, cephalopods
The prehistoric shark Heliocoprionid sp. swan the seas in the Pennsylvannian (318-299 million years ago).
A continuous whorl of teeth the size of a dinner plate made heliocopronids like a buzz saw with fins.
Exactly how the tooth whorl fits into the mouth, and how the heliocoprionids used it to hunt, remains unclear. These fearsome early shark relatives lived about 270-251 million years ago.
Display marker at National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian, National Mall, Washington, D.C.
Fossil display at National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian, National Mall, Washington, D.C.
