''Caucasochasma'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

basking sharks The basking shark (''Cetorhinus maximus'') is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark. It is one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Typically, basking sharks reach ...

that lived during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

. It contains one species, ''C. zherikhini''. It is known from a mostly-complete skeleton from the Pshekha Formation of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It has a

body plan A body plan, (), or ground plan is a set of morphology (biology), morphological phenotypic trait, features common to many members of a phylum of animals. The vertebrates share one body plan, while invertebrates have many. This term, usually app ...

more similar to

sand sharks ''Sand Sharks'' is a 2011 American direct-to-video horror film directed by Mark Atkins about a horde of monstrous sharks that swim through sand and hunt people. It stars Corin Nemec, Brooke Hogan, Vanessa Lee Evigan, Eric Scott Woods, and Gina H ...

than to extant basking sharks, which indicates that it was a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

filter feeder Filter feeders are aquatic animals that acquire nutrients by feeding on organic matters, food particles or smaller organisms (bacteria, microalgae and zooplanktons) suspended in water, typically by having the water pass over or through a s ...

References

Cetorhinidae Prehistoric shark genera Oligocene sharks Monotypic prehistoric cartilaginous fish genera {{paleo-shark-stub