Heterodontus cainozoicus

What a splendid specimen of an uncommon species. Thanks for adding the additional photos.

I never knew that there were sharks that crushed their food instead of shredding it. Any idea what they were eating?

@sixgill pete  @I_gotta_rock

Thank you for your comments. I believe that they use their crushing plates to crush and eat molluscs, crabs and lobsters and sea urchins. This is what modern Port Jackson Sharks eat and you can find many mollusc, crab and sea urchin fossils at the site.

3 hours ago, I_gotta_rock said:

I never knew that there were sharks that crushed their food instead of shredding it. Any idea what they were eating?

Quite a few actually, fossil and modern. Hybodontiforms like ptychodus being some of the more prolific types of durophagus sharks.

Nice tooth Daniel, I can’t believe that the shark has trolled those waters for 5 million years! 

I guess evolution thinks they're cute, too!

44 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Nice tooth Daniel, I can’t believe that the shark has trolled those waters for 5 million years! 

Is that a particularly long time for a species to survive/ or last as a species before evolving?

41 minutes ago, Still_human said:

Is that a particularly long time for a species to survive/ or last as a species before evolving?

Not necessarily. There are a number of shark and invertebrate species that have been around since at least the Miocene. For laughs I looked up the oldest species on Earth. This list isn't actually all species. It drifts off into families and phyla, but it's still fun.

http://themysteriousworld.com/top-10-oldest-animal-species-on-earth/

Beautiful Tooth. Could you add the size? For "Shark Week" displays, the modern spiral egg case from a Heterodont should be of interest.

8 hours ago, Still_human said:

Is that a particularly long time for a species to survive/ or last as a species before evolving?

No, but it’s a while for a shark to only live in one place (the Australian coast)

6 hours ago, fossilnut said:

Beautiful Tooth. Could you add the size? 

If you look under the Details section the size is listed there.

@sixgill pete  Thanks for that information. Unfortunately, I made the assumption since nothing showed under the various headings (except for Taxonomy) that there was no information listed .  My apologizes to DanKurek.

Lol yeah, I'm sorry, I know that's not even remotely long time for any species overall, I meant...I guess I'm not really sure how I exactly meant that, and how I can specify it, but I WAS thinking about Dino's, and I guess just the things that DIDNT last indefinitely, but ended up either dying out(environmental or other natural changes. Like food source changing; megalodon/basilosaurus/me if Taco Bell closes), or evolving into something else. Does that make sense? 

What a beautiful tooth, love the colors.

Very nice fossil, Dan, thanks for sharing this lovely tooth with us.