Fossil Cow Shark (Notorynchus) Tooth - Maryland

This is a fossil tooth of Notorynchus cepedianus, a seven gill shark, commonly referred to as a Cow Shark. It's Miocene in age (~5-15 million years old) and was collected from the Calvert Cliffs area of Maryland.

This shark has a large, thick body, with a broad head and blunt snout. The top jaw has jagged, cusped teeth and the bottom jaw has comb-shaped teeth. It lived in shallow water and was an opportunistic predator feeding on animals along the bottom.