Gozilla shark gets a new name after being classified as its own species

September 10, 2021

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.

The shark has now been officially named Hoffman's dragon shark (Dracopristis hoffmanorum), after the family that owned the land where the skeleton was found, and as an homage to its monstrous, reptilian appearance.

"It is very rare to find skeletal material of ancient sharks, let alone a complete skeleton that also preserved the body outline and other soft tissue impressions," Hodnett said. "That and it being a new species was also amazing and unique."