An Arkansas entry for ‘Shark Week’

LITTLEROCK,Ark.–Arkansasatonetimehadashark. Granted,you’dhavetogoback326millionyearstoseetheArkansassharkinaction. AccordingtotheAmericanMuseumofNaturalHistory,theshark-likeCosmoselachusmehlingi(COSS-mo-see-LAH-kusMEL-in-ghee)atonetimewanderedintheFayettevilleShalearea.Accordingtomuseumofficials,itisnamedafterCarlMehling,aformermemberofthemuseum’spaleontologydivision. “We’redelightedtohonorhim[Mehling]withaweirdolddeadfish,”researcherAllisonBronsonisquotedassaying. Discovery‘SharkWeek’hasbreachinggreatwhites,looksbackat‘Jaws’andstartswithsomedancing Theshark-likereferenceisduetotheCosmoselachusmehlingihavingagillcoverclosertothatofaratfish,adeep-seafishfoundinthePacific,themuseumreported.Itisoneofthemanywell-preservedfossilsharksfromtheFayettevilleShale,researcherssaid,addingthatthatareaisoftenstudiedforitswell-preservedfossils. Researchersdidnotgivethesizeofthe326-million-year-oldfish. BronsonisalsoquotedassayingtheCosmoselac