In Cleveland, Ohio, 400 million-year-old shark fossils were found and studied.
These fossils turned out to belong to an ancient four-foot long Cladoselache shark.
As one of the first species of sharks, these Cladoselaches most definitely differ from the modern day shark, however they do have similarities.
Like the sharks we see today, Cladoselache sharks had gill slits and torpedo-shaped bodies.
Nonetheless, these sharks differ greatly from today’s sharks, and even other ancient sharks because they did not have any placoid scales covering their skin.
Sharks, both ancient and modern, are known for having tooth-like scales enveloping their skin; they not only protect the shark, but they also aid in swimming techniques.
In addition to not owning placoid scales, these prehistoric sharks did not possess claspers.
Claspers are usually present on male sharks, and they supply sperm for the female during reproduction.
Due to the fact that Cladoselache sharks did not have claspers, it is actually unknown how they reproduced.
They most definitely managed to reproduce and swim without claspers and dermal skin successfully, because Cladoselache sharks lived in Earth’s waters for about 100 million years.