Squalicorax

Squalicorax is a genus of extinct lamniform shark known to have lived during the Cretaceous period. The name Squalicorax is derived from the Latin squalus for shark and the Greek κόραξ, 'korax' for raven. These sharks are of medium size, up to 5 m (usually around 2 m) in length. Their bodies were similar to the modern gray sharks, but the shape of the teeth is strikingly similar to that of a tiger shark. The teeth are numerous, relatively small, with a curved crown and serrated, up to 2.5 – 3 cm in height (the only representative of the Mesozoic Lamniformes with serrated teeth). Large numbers of fossil teeth have been found in Europe, North Africa, and North America. Squalicorax was a coastal predator, but also scavenged as evidenced by a Squalicorax tooth found embedded in the metatarsal (foot) bone of a terrestrial hadrosaurid dinosaur that most likely died on land and ended up in the water. Other food sources included turtles, mosasaurs, ichthyodectes, and other bony fishes and sea creatures. Tooth marks from this shark have also been found on the bones of Pteranodon, but whether the shark actively snatched such large pterosaurs out of the air, attacked them as they dove after prey, or was simply scavenging is not known.