Sharks are very ancient creatures. So many studies on them are focused on their ancestors. So let’s talk about dinosaurs.

One ancient shark scientists are looking at is the 300 million year old “Godzilla Shark”. This shark was discovered in 2013. Palaeontologists were able to verify this species existence after finding a 6.7foot long fossilised skeleton in the Manzano Mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The jaws of the creature included 12 rows of teeth and 2.5 foot long spines on its back.

It was given the nickname godzilla shark after its massive size, and is now formally called Hoffman's dragon shark (Dracopristis hoffmanorum). This species of shark fits into a group of sharks called Ctenacanths. These creatures diverged from the branch of sharks we know today around 390 million years ago. Ctenacanths have much more rigid jaws, which are less flexible than regular sharks. This makes them less efficient predators and more bottom feeders in their environment.

Their teeth were also more adapted to crushing and grasping prey than tearing them to shreds. Their spines are thought to be used as defence against larger sharks.

Another large dinosaur shark is the megalodon. You might have heard of this famous shark. But they existed around 23 million years ago. Their newborns are slightly larger than human adults (2 metres), and the full grown size of them is around 14 metres.

A hypothesis of why these sharks grew so big is that they are thought to consume their siblings in the womb. This behaviour has been seen in modern sharks, and helps make sure the babies have enough nutrients before they are born.

Little is known about the shark's biology, but the little of what we do know is about its skeleton. Its skeleton was mainly made up of cartilage, which is why so few fossilised remains exist of it. Cartilage is very hard to preserve over time, and isn't as dense or solid as bones.

Lately, scientists have been studying the shark’s vertebrae. Unlike the rest of their body, the backbones of the shark can harden over time due to calcium salts. Which in turn fossilize the cartilage. The vertebrae of the shark are also a great way for scientists to map the age of the shark as they are similar to trees.In the sense where they have annual growth bands.

In order to find these bands, researchers used an imaging technique calle micro-computed tomography. These images showcased 46 growth bands in the vertebrae they scanned. Which means the said shark lived for about 46 years.

Jumping back into the modern era, there are a few efforts to preserve and monitor the species of shark we have left. Global populations of sharks have declined over the past 50 years. So keeping them off of the endangered list of species has become very important. Environment factors are playing a huge role in their demise, as well as rising ocean temperatures.

Satellite remote sensing(SRS) is playing a huge role in tracking the behaviour of sharks, as well as their populations. They allow for a huge area of ocean to be monitored, as well as options to track specific groups of sharks. Additionally, it allows for certain environmental factors to be tracked over time, and how the long term effects of the environment might affect the ecosystem over time.

This is a promising technology, and there are a lot of different avenues to explore with SRS.