'Jaws' prequel? Fish fossil catch from China includes oldest teeth ever - KSL.com

The fossils date back to the Silurian period, an important era for life on earth from 443 million years ago to 419 million years ago.

But in the past, scientists haven't found many fossils to show this shift, said Matt Friedman, a University of Michigan paleontologist who was not involved in the research.

While fossil heads for these fish are commonly found, this fossil included the whole body, Donoghue said.

The fossils are 14 million years older than any other teeth found from any species — and provide the earliest solid evidence of jaws to date, Zhu said.

The wide range of fossils suggests there were plenty of toothy creatures swimming around at this time, Clement said in an email, even though it's the next evolutionary era that is considered the "Age of Fishes."