83-million-year-old shark tooth discovered in Manitoba

It may be small, but this is an 83 million-year-old shark tooth, which has not yet been documented in Manitoba and is just the latest discovery for the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden.

The tooth comes from a group of sharks called ground sharks, and more specifically, from a family within that group called Carcharhinidae or requiem sharks.

“This is an amazing discovery because it goes to show the diversity of marine vertebrates that can be found in the marine deposits of Manitoba, from this geological time, 83 million years ago,” said Bruno Costa, a paleontologist at the University of Manitoba.

The discovery was made by a community member out during the first dig of the season. 

“It’s really rare. Sharks are really rare in this geological time in Manitoba, and in the City of Morden. Every shark tooth that we see, we collect, bring it back and study it because it’s really a relic,” said Costa.

Gerry Peters, with the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, says since the discovery of the requiem shark tooth, they have found two other shark teeth.

“These new discoveries keep coming. If we keep looking, we keep finding them,” said Peters.

“That’s three within a few weeks anyways and some of them were within minutes and feet of each other, but completely different species of sharks, so this latest one, we will have to try and figure out what it is as well.”

Last year, Peters and his team discovered a full-scale Mosasaur fossil dating back over 80 million years – a discovery he had been waiting on for some time. Peters says, generally, they will find something every year, but discovering new species is rare.

“Scientifically, we haven’t really focused, in the past, really, on the smaller fossils. They are a little harder to find. You have to take a little more time in the field to find the small things, but it’s paying off because we are finding new species,” said Peters. 

Costa adds, “There are for sure other shark teeth there. Now, are there anymore of this particular family or order of sharks? Most likely. We just need to keep looking.”