The 300 million year old “Godzilla Shark” was given the formal name | Photo: AP
Godzilla has been a hot topic of discussion on social media since the release of the movie “Godzilla vs Kong”. The monstrous verse is a huge phenomenon of pop culture.
But a few years ago, even before the monstrous verse took off completely, social media became obsessed with ‘Godzilla Shark’ to which scientists have discovered traces from centuries ago.
It is estimated that this creature is 300 million years old, and its teeth were the first sign that it may be a new species.
The ancient shark was named ‘Godzilla Shark’ because of its teeth and scales that looked like kaiju scales, as seen in Godzilla’s films.
The first shark fossil was discovered by John-Paul Hodnett in Albuquerque.
After eight years, the researchers’ findings were published in the bulletin of the Natural and Science Museum in New Mexico, identifying the shark as a separate species, the Associated Press reported.
The 2-meter creature was also given a formal name – Dracopristis hoffmanorum or Hoffman’s Dragon Shark. The name is in honor of the NEwMexico family who own land in the Manzano mountains where the fossil was found.
According to the discoverer, the area is full of fossils and is easy to access due to quarries and commercial excavations.
The creature had 12 rows of teeth on its lower jaw. Hodnett said he could only see them with the angular light technique that illuminates the objects below.
The fossil is considered one of its most complete evolutionary parts – the ctenacanth – which separated from modern sharks and air about 390 million years ago.