A FEARSOME "shark whale" that roamed the seas 26 million years ago has popped up again in Australia.

Scientists say the predator's mouth is crammed full of razor-sharp teeth - and warn it is "deceptively cute".

It's been rediscovered through a fossilised skull found lying on a beach in Victoria in 2019, as laid out in a new study in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Researchers said the dolphin-sized beast was a "fast, sharp-toothed predator".

They grew to around 2m - so slightly longer than the average human.

Ruairidh Duncan from the team said: “It’s essentially a little whale with big eyes and a mouth full of sharp, slicing teeth.

“Imagine the shark-like version of a baleen whale – small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless.”

The species is one of a

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