The Most Prehistoric Sharks Alive Today?

One group of sharks alive today, the Hexanchiformes, might be the only living shark order to have survived since the Paleozoic. This ancient lineage of fish is incredibly fascinating, including both the Cow Sharks and the Frilled Sharks, and in this video we investigate their biology and evidence for their evolutionary history.

#SharkWeek2021

Music by Geographer

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[Sepaedius]

cow sharks are adorable, and look like they're whistling along as they hunt underwater

[tmazrevenger]

Cow Shark: No thoughts, head empty
Frilled Shark: I will be seeing you in your nightmares

[dr.polaris]

Sharks often receive the same treatment as crocodilians in being labelled ‘living fossils’. Great video!

[Gasmaskmax]

6:20 Thanks for using my drawing! It's crazy seeing one of my little doodles show up on one of my favorite youtube channels :)

[bkjeong]

Sixgills are nowadays often seen as scavengers for their habit of eating whale carcasses, but they really feed on live prey much more often, and visit cold, shallow temperate waters surprisingly often for this reason.

Sevengills also deserve more attention as the apex predators of shallow, mud/sand-bottomed bays and kelp forests. They’ll even hunt cooperatively in California to corner and kill seals.

[chadgorosaurus]

The frilled shark is what shin godzilla is inspired from so it really is prehistoric

[_robustus_]

Finally someone is saying it. These are not your grandfathers’ sharks.

[VianiPZN-]

The shark side of marine life is a pathway to many evolutions, some considered to be prehistoric

[NaturesCompendium]

Great video as always! 5:14 Also, would the similarities between modern frilled sharks and Xenacanthus be considered a case of convergent evolution since the two aren't closely related?

[deftones]

Man.. the frilled shark is awesome! Pretty cool to see what primitive sharks looked like millions of years ago. They must be extremely resilient.

[gabewillys]

I’ve always had a fondness for the blunt nose sixgill, growing up in the PNW you can sometimes spot them off the pier in Seattle

[epauletshark]

Merch idea: join the Shark side, we have teeth.

[epauletshark]

I was showing this to my little brother, I am recruiting him to the shark side. You need a "shark side" shirt.

[orkinusdelfinoideo]

I saw and studied a Clamodoselachus anguineus male, that was one of the best things in my life.

[ChordRunner]

Nothing is primitive. It's just well-adapted.

[adamcarrillo]

The video about my fave shark order finally came in! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[misterflibble]

Sharks: more than just the great white

[TFPrime]

Great video guys. There was just one small error that i saw. There are actually 3 species of sawshark that have 6 gill slits. The first known sixgill sawshark was renamed Warren's Sixgill Sawshark (Pliotrema warreni), and 2 other species where discovered recently, being named Anna's Sixgill Sawshark (Pliotrema annae), and Kaja's Sixgill sawshark (Pliotrema kajae) respectively. Other than that small detail, the video was excellent. Keep up the good work

[jasondouglas]

Imagine having Morning sickness for 3 and a half years

[Afrologist]

I bet my shirt that we'll discover another species of Frilled Shark by 2050