A 300 million-year-old shark relative, nicknamed the Godzilla shark after its discovery in 2013, has finally received a proper name after being classified as its own species.
Paleontologists found the unusually complete and well-preserved 6.7-foot-long (2 meters) fossilized skeleton of the ancient shark at a private site in the Manzano Mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Standout features of the skeleton include 12 rows of piercing teeth set in robust, powerful jaws, and a pair of 2.5-foot-long (0.8 m) fin spines on its back.
It was nicknamed the Godzilla shark because of its size — the skeleton is the largest fossil of its kind ever discovered in the area — and the reptilian nature of the spines on its back, John-Paul Hodnett, who first unearthed the fossil and led the new research, told Live Science.
