Safari Ltd Prehistoric Sharks Toob

Not to be mistaken for the vertebrate themed Prehistoric Sealife Toob introduced by Safari of the United States last year, recently arrived at Everything Dinosaur is the new tube of Prehistoric Sharks.  Ten different models representing this ancient lineage makes up the set, with an average length of around eight centimetres.

Safari’s Prehistoric Sealife Toob (Ancient Sharks)

Ten prehistoric sharks models in the Safari Ltd prehistoric sharks toob. Can you identify them all?

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Prehistoric Sharks

The Toob of prehistoric sharks features the following:

Cretoxyrhina, Cladoselache, Edestus, Helicoprion, Hybodus, Ornithoprion, Orthacanthus, Scapanorhynchus, Stethacanthus and Xenacanthus.  Such a wide range of creatures featured from the Mesozoic and Palaeozoic.  The fossil record for sharks is surprisingly poor, especially since they have been around since the Devonian.  Their cartilage skeletons do not fossilise well.  Shark’s teeth readily fossilise and we have hundreds of examples in the Everything Dinosaur fossil collection.  Our particular favourites are Cretoxyrhina, a fearsome predator of the Late Cretaceous seas, about the size of a modern Great White Shark.  This model contrasts nicely with the much more ancient, Devonian shark Cladoselache, which swam over what is the north of America some 400 million years ago.

To view the Safari Ltd range of prehistoric animal models and figures: Safari Ltd. Wild Safari Prehistoric World Models.

There is even a model of one of the very first sharks known from the fossil record – Stethacanthus – nicknamed the “ironing board shark” because of its bizarrely shaped, weird dorsal fin.