New 26-Foot Giant Shark Rewrites Ocean Predator Timeline
Researchers re-examined five large vertebrae found near Darwin, Australia, and concluded they belong to a previously unknown giant shark from the early Cretaceous Cardabiodontidae, about 115 million years old, reaching up to 26 feet (8 m) and weighing around 3,000 kg. This finding, published in Communications Biology in 2025, pushes back the emergence of giant sharks by ~15 million years and provides rare insight into cartilage-preserving fossils that reveal the anatomy of these prehistoric predators.