Australian teacher and amateur fossil finder Philip Mullaly stumbled on an incredible discovery while taking a walk on his local beach. He noticed a strange, glinting shape sticking out of the side of a boulder. Further investigation revealed that the boulder was studded with the ferocious-looking teeth of an ancient mega shark—the first find of its kind in Australia, Museums Victoria reported. Mullaly spotted the clutch of teeth at Jan Juc, a fossil site on the state of Victoria's Surf Coast. "I was walking along the beach looking for fossils, turned and saw this shining glint in a boulder and saw a quarter of the tooth exposed. I was immediately excited, it was just perfect, and I knew it was an important find that needed to be shared with people," Mullaly told Museums Victoria in a video (see above). The teeth—which are almost 3 inches in length—belonged to an extinct species called the great jagged narrow-toothed shark, or Carcharocles angustidens in Latin. This massive, ancient shark grew to more than 30 feet in length and hunted the region's small whales about 25 million years ago, Museums Victoria reported. This ferocious shark was a cousin of the famous Megalodon. "I was in a bit of shock actually because I saw it and I thought this is looking like it's complete, like it's just fallen out of a shark's mouth even though it's 25 million years old," Mullaly said, Yahoo 7 News reported. Following his incredible discovery, Mullaly and a team from the museum returned to the spot where he first uncovered the ferocious-looking chompers. The group uncovered more than 40 teeth from the site in December 2017 and January 2018, many of which may have come from the same enormous beast. But some of the teeth, Museums Victoria paleontologist Tim Ziegler said, came from the smaller sixgill shark (Hexanchus). Sixgill sharks, he explained, still swim in the waters around Victoria today. The ancient creatures whose teeth they belonged to, he said, were feasting on the corpse of the larger shark in a feeding frenzy. "The teeth of the sixgill shark work like a crosscut saw, and tore into the Carcharocles angustidens like loggers felling a tree. The stench of blood and decaying flesh would have drawn scavengers from far around," Ziegler told Victoria Museums. Teeth provide an important insight into ancient sharks, whose bodies are largely made of cartilage, Smithsonian.com reported. This spongy material degrades over time, but hard teeth can survive millions of years embedded in rocks. Ancient shark teeth mostly show up solo, so finding multiple teeth is an incredibly lucky find, Museums Victoria reported. Sharks regrow their teeth and can shed individual choppers daily. "These teeth are of international significance, as they represent one of just three associated groupings of Carcharocles angustidens teeth in the world, and the very first set to ever be discovered in Australia," Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at Museums Victoria said. Mullaly donated his discovery to Melbourne Museum, which is currently exhibiting the terrifying-looking teeth.<doc-sep>Fossilized teeth from an ancient mega-shark, considered a close cousin to the megalodon, have been discovered on an Australian beach and are set to be unveiled Thursday, Museums Victoria announced. The teeth, which are almost three inches in length, belong to the Great Jagged Narrow-Toothed Shark, an extinct mega-shark species that stalked the Australian seas some 25 million years ago and subsisted on a diet of whales, the public museum organization said. The beast could grow to be as long as 30 feet, twice the size of a great white shark. Amateur fossil finder and Australian teacher Philip Mullaly made the discovery during a beach walk at Jan Juc, a fossil site on the Victoria coast about an hour south of Melbourne. “I was walking along the beach looking for fossils, turned and saw this shining glint in a boulder and saw a quarter of the tooth exposed. I was immediately excited, it was just perfect and I knew it was an important find that needed to be shared with people,” Mullaly told the museum. He contacted the senior curator of vertebrae paleontology at Museums Victoria, Erich Fitzgerald, and offered to donate the teeth, the first of its kind to be discovered in Australia. “These teeth are of international significance, as they represent one of just three associated groupings of Carcharocles angustidens teeth in the world,” Fitzgerald explained. “By donating his discovery to Museums Victoria, Phil has ensured that these unique fossils are available for scientific research and education both now and for generations to come. This is absolutely essential for documenting and preserving Australia’s prehistoric history.” Mullaly ended up leading scientists from the museum to the site and they were able to extract more than 40 teeth. They’ll be on display until Oct. 7.<doc-sep>The 3-inch long teeth are on display at the Melbourne Museum. No, this isn't a publicity stunt for the new movie "Meg." A teacher and fossil enthusiast found a giant set of prehistoric shark teeth estimated to be about 25 million years old at a beach in Australia. Philip Mullaly found the set of shark teeth in Jan Juc, a renowned fossil site along Victoria's Surf Coast. "I was walking along the beach looking for fossils, turned and saw this shining glint in a boulder and saw a quarter of the tooth exposed," the citizen scientist said in a press release by the Museums Victoria where the teeth are now on display. "I was immediately excited, it was just perfect and I knew it was an important find that needed to be shared with people," Mullaly said. The nearly three-inch-long teeth belonged to a now-extinct ferocious shark, aptly named the great jagged narrow-toothed shark, which is a smaller cousin of the famous megalodon shark, the subject of the new movie. "I couldn't believe it. These things are really rare," Mullaly told "Good Morning America." Mullaly called to tell the paleontologists at Museums Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, about his discovery and the museum assembled a team to handle the excavation. In total, Mulally said the team took "40 teeth out of that boulder, which is just extraordinary." According to the museum, these teeth provide evidence that a shark which would have grown to more than 30-feet in length, nearly double the size of a great white, "once stalked Australia's ancient oceans" approximately 25 million years ago. The teeth fossils are now on exhibit at Museums Victoria.<doc-sep>
What started as a regular day at the beach for Philip Mullaly ended with a key scientific discovery. Mulally found a set of shark teeth dating back 25 million years, belonging to a "megatooth" shark believed to be twice the size of a great white. "I was walking along the beach looking for fossils, turned and saw this shining glint in a boulder and saw a quarter of the tooth exposed," Mullaly said in a statement. "I was immediately excited, it was just perfect,and I knew it was an important find that needed to be shared with people." Mullaly donated the teeth to Museums Victoria in Australia to keep as part of their collection. The museum said the teeth belonged to an extinct species called the Great Jagged Narrow-Toothed Shark (Carcharocles angustidens), which could grow to twice the size of a great white. The shark was among the top predators during its heyday 25 million years ago, feasting mostly on small whales. "These teeth are of international significance, as they represent one of just three associated groupings of Carcharocles angustidens teeth in the world and the very first set to ever be discovered in Australia," Dr. Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Museums Victoria, said in a statement. The New York Times reports Mullaly found the teeth in 2015. During two expeditions taking place last December and January, Fitzgerald led a team of experts to the location where Mullaly found the teeth to excavate. Researchers collected more than 40 shark teeth, including those from a species called the Sixgill Shark. The species, still alive today, likely fed on the remains of the megatooth shark after it died. "This find suggests they have performed that lifestyle here for tens of millions of years," Museums Victoria paleontologist Tim Ziegler said. The teeth went on public display Thursday and will remain available to public view until October. Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.