Description

Paleocene

Khouribga, Morocco

Very fine 1.2 inch

Shark.

Palaeocarcharodon is a shark genus that appeared early in the Paleocene – not too long after the K/T extinction that killed off not only the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, marine reptiles but also all the large shark genera.  Its irregularly-serrated teeth have been found at a few sites along the east coast of the United States and north Africa.  It was one of the largest sharks of the Paleocene but it died out by the end of the epoch.

Palaeocarcharodon was once considered the ancestor of great white sharks but it is now considered an evolutionary dead-end that left no modern relatives.