#ancient shark

[shattersaurus]

Megalodon my boy

[cry4nne]

would this be considered paleoart

helicoprion anthro

[alex-fictus]

What group of animals should come next??

[blueiscoool]

Scientists Discover Shark Graveyard at the Bottom of the Ocean

Australian researchers discovered 750 shark teeth deep in the Indian Ocean.

A graveyard studded with thousands of shark teeth is lurking nearly 3.5 miles (5.400 kilometers) beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean.

Researchers made the shocking discovery in October during a month-long expedition along the southern tip of Indonesia aboard the RV Investigator (opens in new tab), a 308-foot-long (94 meters) research vessel operated by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency. On the final day of the voyage, and after 26 previous attempts, the researchers sank a trawling net into the deep water hoping to catch fish as part of an ongoing biodiversity survey. Instead, they pulled up a net's worth of hundreds of shark teeth, according to a statement (opens in new tab).

"It was our very last sample of the trip before heading back to Australia," Dianne Bray (opens in new tab), senior collections manager at the Museums Victoria Research Institute, said. "I was a little disappointed at first when we hauled up the net because it was filled with mud and I knew that there wasn't going to be many fish specimens. And even if there were, they would be rumbled and damaged from all the mud."

"We tipped the contents out on the deck of the boat and as we went through everything, we found shark tooth after shark tooth," Bray said. "We were finding teeth from [modern] mako and [great] white sharks, but also fossilized teeth from ancient sharks like the immediate ancestor of the giant megalodon shark."

In total, researchers collected more than 750 teeth ranging in size from 0.39 inch (1 centimeter) to a single tooth from the megalodon ancestor measuring 4 inches (10 cm).

The researchers noticed deposits of black manganese nodules growing on many of the teeth, which were the result of the teeth sitting on the ocean floor for so long. Otherwise, the teeth were all in good condition.

"It's quite remarkable," Bray said. "The teeth weren't weathered, rumbled or tumbled. Bacteria consumed all of the organic matter from the teeth and the roots were gone, but otherwise the enamel was left."

Researchers aren't entirely sure why so many teeth accumulated in this swath of the ocean but they don't think that hundreds of sharks died there, Bray said. Unlike humans, who are born with one set of baby teeth and replace them with one set of adult teeth during their lifetimes, sharks have an endless supply of teeth that are replaced "like a conveyor belt," Gareth J. Fraser, lecturer in Evolutionary Developmental Biology at University of Sheffield in the U.K., wrote in The Conversation (opens in new tab).

The area where the teeth were found likely hosted a community of ancient sharks.

"The teeth were found on an abyssal plain and not out in the open ocean," Bray said. "This area was part of an ancient reef covered with seamounts and we think a community of sharks swam around this area long ago."

As they swam, they likely dropped their used-up teeth.

Bray said that the shark tooth haul barely "scraped the surface" of what was buried there.

By Jennifer Nalewicki.

[allwillbecomeclear]

Shark News!! Fossil of an ancient shark that swam in the age of dinosaurs solves centuries-long mystery

🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈

[puppetmaster13u]

Because it is Mermay:

Originally did this art for one of @radiance1 prompts/story ideas, which also gives an idea of colors so.

[pleistocene-pride]

Torpedo torpedo, better known as the common torpedo, common torpedo ray, ocellate torpedo, or eyed electric ray, is a species of electric ray in the family Torpedinidae which is endemic to the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. These rays typically dwell in coastal and nearshore waters but can occasionally be at depths up to 1,300ft (400m), however they tend to prefer warm sandy flats and sea grass beds. Torpedo rays are generally solitary and nocturnal ambush predators which feed on a variety of fish, crustaceans, and worms. They are themselves preyed upon by seals, sharks, and large boney fish. As with other members of its family, the common torpedo can subdue both prey and predator with strong electric shocks of up to 200 volts which are generated from a pair of large kidney-shaped electric organs which are visible beneath the skin on either side of the head. The electrogenic properties of this species led it to be used in medicine for the treatment of pain and diseases such as gout by various cultures in antiquity such as the Greeks, Egyptians, and Carthaginians. The Romans in particular used the common torpedo to treat headaches. Reaching around 12 to 24 inches (30 to 61cms) in length and 7 to 16inches (18 to 41cms) in width, with females being slightly larger than males, the common torpedo has a nearly circular pectoral fin disc and a short, thick tail with two dorsal fins of nearly equal size and a large caudal fin. The eyes are small and followed by spiracles of comparable size. The dorsal coloration of the common torpedo is rusty orange to reddish brown which is adorned with prominent blue spots on its back, which usually number five but may vary from zero to nine. The underside is cream-colored, with dark disc margins. Breeding typically occurs from December to February. Common torpedos are aplacental viviparous, with the developing embryos nourished by yolk and histotroph ("uterine milk") produced by the mother. Females produce litters of up to 28 after a gestation period of 4–8 months depending on the geographical region. Common torpedo reach sexual maturity at around 10in ( 25cms) in length and may live upwards of 10 years.

[nazrigar]

Pando - The Largest Single Organism by Mass and 14,000 years old, and some perspective on just how old that is.

A random thought came to my head last night...

This is Pando.

All of this? Is a single male aspen tree. This entire thing is a single tree with multiple stems sharing a single root system.

It is the largest tree by mass, and the heaviest single organism, weighing in at 6000 metric tons. For perspective, that's 20 blue whales in mass.

But what also intrigues me is that... well. It's an old tree.

Established in 12,000 BCE, meaning it would be 14000 years old by 2023.

By the the last Smilodons died out in 10,000 BCE, it would have already been 2000 years old.

And Pando is still a youngster compared to the high estimate age of this clonal colony of sea grass estimated to be 100,000 years old.

For perspective, when the last Neanderthal died in 40,000 BCE?

This sea grass would have already been 60,000 years old.

If human civilization (as in, the kind of organized polity that can be identified with things as "states" and "urbanization" among a plethora of other things) was established during 5000 BCE, and thus 7000 years old:

Pando would have already been 5000 years old.

The Sea grass colony would have already been 93,000 years old.

And considering that the oldest vertebrate, that is the Greenland Shark can live for 500 years?

All of human civilization encompasses the lifespans of just 14 Greenland Sharks.

I dunno... it just really shows that we pretty are a tiny blip in the grand scheme of Earth's geological history.

A very humbling thought if you ask me.

[sharkgirldick]

You? My boyfriend? No, sweetheart, though it's really cute that you think so highly of yourself.

You're my boytoy.

[bloodfin]

I personally think that Catholic-in-life Phantom Ghoul has the best curse alternatives. See below:

Stubs toe: "Lucifer's taint!"

Annoyed: "For the love of Satan's sack."

Angry or surprised: "Son of a six-winged-harlot!"

Disappointed: "You muppet."

Instead of the fuck word in pleasure, has been caught saying:

glorious

dazzling

sensational

Dew had to take 5 the first time Phantom called his cock splendiferous. Rain and Swiss wouldn't have believed him if they weren't in the room to hear it.

Will also unironically use movie/pop culture/vine references instead of expletives ie:

You hamster!

Eat my shorts -

Will never say christ, only Chrysler

You are ✨️StIlL A PiEcE oF gArBAgE✨️

You're killing me, Smalls. (Dew hates this in particular)

Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow.

Way to go, Paul. (Aether is so confused, no one in the entire ministry is named Paul)

[arthistoryanimalia]

For when it’s still #FintasticFriday but #Baturday is just around the corner…

Jade pendant, bat with shark wings

Costa Rica, Central Caribbean Region, 500 BCE - 800 CE

Jade, H 15.5 x W 3 cm

Museo del Jade, Costa Rica

[of-pale]

Normal people: Man, their sin devil triggers are so cool

Me: Yes, but have you considered…

[cry4nne]

Stethacanthus

[spectral-snippets-and-drabbles]

New Leaf!Au

Danny successfully completed his training to ascend to the throne and is taking a well earned vacation to celebrate. The time for said vacation time is a surprisingly long, long vacation but one he was happy to take one nonetheless! So he decided to travel the multiverse and found one that had heroes!

Surely he could finally kick back, relax and watch them handle things without his help, right? Especially after aiding them in taking down the guy with funny lazer eyes (he tore Darkseid to pieces in front of said heroes for them).

...Right?

After much gaslighting, feigning innocence, and speaking half-truths on his part, Danny is able to convince them that he's an alien that was the last of his kind with very few memories left of who he was. Thankfully, Martian ManHunter's mind reading abilities don't work on ghosts, so it made him sell his pitch all the more easily.

"I cannot sense them anymore...I am alone...Will I die alone too?"

So now the league of heroes with a bleeding heart take him in and give him a place to stay as a reserve member. After being told that his kind age rather slowly and that he's still considered a youngling, Dinah thinks socializing with younger people will do wonders for Phantom.

And for a while, things are going good until a certain Hellblazer comes rushing to the Leauge to inform the Leauge that the Infinite Realms has been ruined by Pariah Dark and freaks out when he sees Phantom wearing the Ring of Rage.

Something only one Ghost Royalty can wield. Pariah Dark was the last known King of the Realms.

However, due to a lack of knowledge from on the Infinite Realms' practices and culture, they can only speculate what the happened before Phantom found himself wandering around the place. This causes everyone to go crazy with several conspiracy theories.

The most popular ones are as follows, not in any specific tank or order:

1) Phantom has the Ring of Rage on his ring finger. Specifically, on his left ring finger.

Which has some speculating that he was the husband/consort/favored concubine to the king and was offered it to become Pariah's beloved. With all of his injuries, it's assumed Dark's enemy's tortured Phantom to the point of memory regression and so the enraged monarch sacked the Realms to either find him or enact revenge.

Phantom did mentioned he probably had children (Dan and Dani) and that his 'kind' don't need to be male and female exclusively to have offspring.

(He used Box Ghost and Lunch Lady as reference.)

2) Constantine with the knowledge of how one becomes king.

It's possible that Phantom took the title of King after challenging Pariah Dark to one on one combat and suffered a serious blow to his head in the fight to usurp the Tyrant, causing his amnesia.

Medical scans revealed a healed scar on the side of his head under his hair, giving some support to the theory. If that's the case, then their friend is a potential warrior king lost in the Land of the Living!

3) Constantine is taken at face value.

Phantom is Pariah Dark. When his subjects made a move to kill him, they failed and somehow banished him to the realm of the living in exile. If Phantom regained these old memories and truly was the old warlord standing before them, the Leauge would have to make contingency plans to eliminate him, as he laid one of the afterlives to near irreparable ruin.

(Batman's infamous paranoia makes things worse to the point where Danny may flee the universe if he were to use a contingency on him...everyone disliked that!)

4) A Victim of unjust Betrayal?

During his talks with Martian ManHunter, Phantom talked about pieces of memories of ungrateful people and how they saw him as a menace, even though he did everything possible to keep them safe. Everything became a blur after his last encounter with his enemies but couldn't recall what happened next. When he came to, the place was in ruin.

(So it's possible he pulled a Lobo, lashed out in his panicked state and damaged the realms under extreme stress after being harmed by the denizens of the Realms before running away to escape.)

5) Regressed through other means?

Constantine knows that some ghosts have an initial form after death, so he believes that there's a chance that Phantom is Pariah Dark just before he used his powers to become the Evil King, his amnesia making him regress back to the moment before he makes a final decision.

• Some Leaguers believe he's a ticking time bomb if he regained his old memories. One that they probably can't stop, as Constantine and the other magic users can sense some serious God-like power emanating from the Phantom and who definitely has legions of undead armies at his command with forgotten knowledge that would make Apokolips look tame in comparison.

• The others who are more compassionate believe that this could be a chance to help nudge Pariah Dark onto a better path to avoid becoming evil again. Better to help walk a just path and not give him a reason to believe the Leauge would harm him.

One things for certain; everyone believes Phantom is at the critical moment on the crossroad again that could very well make or break the safety of the both the Infinite Realms and Multiverse.

So they'll help him go down the path of Justice.

[mikeru6]

fun fact, did you know that sharks existed before the North Star even formed? they also existed before TREES!

i love sharks

[bleaksqueak]

Honestly, I'm really grateful that my brain isn't wired to jump from hyperfixation to hyperfixation. It has its own unique drawbacks, sure, but I've always found it really comforting that I know what to expect from myself.