First Deep-Sea Shark Fossil Teeth from the Miocene of South Korea

Important vertebrate fossil records have been collected in the Pohang Basin in South Korea for many decades, but only a few were described in literature. In this work, three deep-sea shark teeth are described, which were probably found in the Duho Formation (middle Miocene) in Pohang City, South Korea. One of these is identified as from the genus Mitsukurina, while the others are assignable to Dalatias. None of these taxa were previously reported in the fossil record of Korean Peninsula. The occurrences of these deep-water fishes in the Pohang Basin support the hypotheses that the Duho Formation was deposited in deep-sea environment, and sharks, even including benthopelagic forms were already widely distributed throughout the East sea when this sea was still developing.