These gigantic shark teeth belonged to the megalodon's cousin

The Melbourne Museum in Australia unveiled a rare fossilized find Thursday: a "jaw-full" of gigantic shark teeth. Found along the Surf Coast in Victoria by a fossil enthusiast named Phillip Mullaly, the teeth measure a stunning 2.7 inches long, and are evidence that the megalodon wasn't the only gigantic shark prowling around our ancient waters.

Upon examination, the teeth were found to have belonged to a type of shark called the "great jagged narrow-toothed shark," or Carcharocles angustidens, Fox News reported. A cousin of the famous megalodon, this gigantic shark would have measured over 30 feet in length — aka, twice the length of a great white shark.

After his initial find, Mullaly worked with a team from the Museums Victoria, the organization that administrates the Melbourne Museum, to uncover almost 40 teeth in total between December 2017 and January 2018. Some belonged to other species of shark, but a shocking number of them belong to the Carcharocles angustidens.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

It's rare to find more than one matching shark tooth at a time because sharks naturally lose their teeth one at a time throughout their lives, so finding such a large number in the same place was unexpected. Even more exciting, the teeth are still largely intact, despite being 25 million years old. Because most of a shark's body is made up of cartilage, not bone, these teeth are a huge stepping stone into learning more about the prehistoric past of Australia's oceans.

The teeth will remain on display as part of an exhibit in the Melbourne Museum until Oct. 7. Read more about the find at Fox News.