These teeth of great white sharks which stalked the world’s oceans 10,000 years ago have been identified years after their discovery.
Scientists of the Natural Sciences Museum of Miramar and the Foundation Azara have identified the remains of great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) – the same shark as the one in Jaws – which were previously discovered on different beaches in the city of Miramar, in the eastern Argentina province of Buenos Aires.
The first tooth was found by Jose Puente on the beaches located in the Bosque Vivero Dunicola and the second was discovered by Miguel Babarro in the nearby town of Mar del Sud, that is located 15 kilometres from Miramar.
Video Credit: CEN/Museo Ciencias Naturales Miramar
The exact date the remains were found is unclear and they were found as Puente and Dunicola were collecting snails on the beaches.
Daniel Boh, the head of the museum, told reporters “sometimes moved fossils appear on our coast, but these remains stand out. The teeth were recovered at separate times and in separate places and show an important process of fossilisation.
“The materials were taken to the municipal museum of Miramar and were kept inside a drawer for years”.
Years later, Mariano Magnussen, from the Paleontological Lab of the new Museum of Miramar noticed the importance of the discovery while checking hundreds of fossils kept in the collection.
Along with Federico Agnolin, a specialist from the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences, Conicet, Azara Foundation and the Maimonides University, he carried out the first evaluation of the remains.
Sergio Bogan, from the Azara Foundation and the Maimonides University, checked the collection and analysed the teeth. He managed to identify them as belonging to the great white shark.
He said: “Despite the fact they have erosion, they are two excellent fossil pieces: one of them is from the upper jaw and the other one from the lower jaw. They are the first of this species discovered on the coast of Buenos Aires.”
He said that the great white shark is an unusual species to find on the coast of Buenos Aires and this discovery reinforces the paleontological model that says it was the most abundant species in “our sea”.
The scientists examining the shark remains 
The remains of the white shark
Magnussen said: “Miramar is one of the places in the world where we have the lowest palaeontological, archaeological and historical registers of the presence of Carcharodon carcharias.”
Jaws is a 1975 film by Steven Spielberg featuring a great white shark that terrorises a small resort town.
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Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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