DinoFrontier
About Hybodus
Hybodus was a shark from an extinct group called hybodonts, which lived alongside the dinosaurs for most of the Mesozoic. It looked much like a modern shark, about 2 metres long, but had a sharp spine in front of each of its two dorsal fins.
It had two kinds of teeth: sharp, pointed teeth at the front for gripping slippery prey, and flatter teeth at the back for crushing shells. That let it eat a wide range of food.
Hybodonts lived in seas and also in rivers and lakes, which is why Hybodus fits the rivers and warm coasts of DinoFrontier.
Hybodus facts
- A famous Hybodus hauffianus from Holzmaden, Germany, has the remains of about 250 belemnites in its stomach.
- Males had hooked spines on their heads, possibly used to hold females during mating.
- Hybodonts survived the end-Permian and end-Triassic extinctions and died out by the end of the Cretaceous.
- Hybodus teeth and fin spines are common fossils, which is how Louis Agassiz first described it.
Discovery
Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz named Hybodus in 1837 from fossil teeth and spines. Complete skeletons were later found in the Early Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Holzmaden, southern Germany, by the Hauff family of fossil preparators.
