Big, toothy fish found in Nevada chomped prey like sharks

By Associated Press

Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017 | 2:45 p.m.

ELKO — A fossil found in northeastern Nevada shows a newly discovered fish species that scientists believe looked, and ate, like a shark.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports the fossil is what remains of a bony, sharp-toothed fish that would have been about six-feet-long (1.83 meters) with long jaws and layers of sharp teeth.

The type of jaw and teeth on the fish suggest it would have chomped down on its prey before swallowing it whole, like a shark.

The fish, which researchers called Birgeria americana, predates Nevada's most famous fossil, the Ichthyosaur, by more than 30 million years. The Ichthyosaur was a 55-foot-long (16.76 meters) reptile. One of the largest concentrations of Ichthyosaur fossils was found near Berlin, Nevada. The find led to the Ichthyosaur becoming Nevada's state fossil.