Evidence Suggesting A Freshwater Shark Ate Its Young Found In Fossilized Poo

Scientists have recently found evidence that adult Orthocanthus sharks have consumed their young. They have discovered baby Orthocanthus shark teeth in ancient coprolites, fossilized feces suggesting that prehistoric freshwater shark ate its baby.

According to upi.com, the evidence they found were crystal clear. There is no chance they could be mistaken that what they found in the coprolites were juvenile teeth of an Orthocanthus shark. The teeth had spiral-shaped rectums, making their ancient waste deposits quite distinct to the freshwater shark. The 300 million-year-old evidence was discovered from the Minto Coalfield of New Brunswick, Canada. Europe and North America used to be known as vast, oil-rich jungles near the equator. These freshwater sharks used to swim the swampy water which was called "coal forests."

The macabre sample was gathered by University of Bristol masters student Aodhan ó Gogáin, now studying for a PhD at Trinity College Dublin, as part of a wider investigation into prehistoric fish on the coast of New Brunswick. "Other people have looked at their diet and found that their stomach contents contained little amphibians," Mr. ó Gogáin told the BBC. "And there's also evidence that these sharks ate other genuses of xenacanth shark. But this is the first bit of evidence we have that they were eating their own young as well."

The evidence found did not surprise ó Gogáin. He said that modern-day bull sharks, which can also be found in a similar environment in coastal swamps and shallow seas, have also been known to consume their young ones when needed. "Sharks tend to have a wide dietary range. They're not really picky eaters."

Science Alert also reported that study co-author Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang from Royal Holloway University of London said the evidence suggested the eel-shaped sharks known as apex predators of their ecosystem may be facing food shortage at that time.

"There's cannibalism and then there's specifically filial cannibalism. And that is relatively unusual," he told BBC News. He added saying: "we generally find it in rather stressed ecosystems, where for whatever reason, food is running scarce. Obviously it's evolutionarily a bad move to eat your own young unless you absolutely have to. But in these 300 million-year-old ecosystems we're finding evidence for filial cannibalism quite commonly, based on the coprolite remains."

Dr. Falcon- Lang explained that the time of the cannibalism was also known as the time of invasion. Although the land was rich with plants, there were not a lot of animals. It is with these reasons that aquatic creatures like these sharks extended their territory into fresh waters.