Electric ability is not unknown in elasmobranchs, as the torpedo and electric rays can create electric current, and all elasmobranchs, of course, have an extraordinary electrosensory system. The production of electricity is usually for one of three purposes: predation (to shock prey, as electric rays do), sensing the environment (as in mormyrid elephant nose fish and a few other teleosts that inhabit dark, murky tropical rivers), or social communication (including finding mates; again this has been found in mormyrid fish and some other tropical river fishes). If indeed this ancient orectolobiform possessed electric powers, we may be tempted to ask: why don't carpet sharks still have the ability to create an electric field? The answer to this question may lie in the fact that being electric involves many physiological specializations that may not be worth the ability. Modern orectolobiforms live in clear, tropical waters where sensing the environment is easily done with eyesight and electroreception that all elasmobranchs possess; likewise, they are successful predators of crustaceans and small fish, and don't appear to need any "help" in that regard. Thus, the ability to produce electric current may simply not be adaptively significant--in other words, it would cost more than its benefit to possess this ability.
The first was Stethacanthus, a 1 m long shark (belonging to the extinct stethacanthid family) with a thick, bony spine projecting from its shoulder region, on the top of which resided a platform bearing rows of sharp tubercle-like teeth (overall, the set-up gave the appearance of a radar turret on top of the shark). There were also tubercle-like teeth on the top of the head, underneath the projection's platform. The presence of teeth led Rainer Zangerl, who discovered the animal in Montana, to suggest that the projection atop the shoulders was a method of scaring away predators; the large "radar turret", along with the "teeth", would have made for a striking resemblance to some larger fishes' gaping jaws! This would have been especially convincing when Stethacanthus was half-buried in the seafloor sand, with just its thick spine sticking out. Of course, this idea has never been confirmed and remains speculation.
The next shark in question, named Falcatus, is another stethacanthid and like Stethacanthus had a strange projection from its shoulder region--this time, a thick L-shaped spine that pointed forward like the barrel of a tank. This "barrel" also had "teeth" on it (rows of them), and the top of the head had the same sort of teeth, like Stethacanthus. However, in Falcatus this spine was only present in sexually mature males. This suggests that in Falcatus the bony spine was used as a pre-mating courtship display, much like deer and many other hooved mammals tussle with their antlers and horns. In fact, a fossil exists in which a female and a male Falcatus are locked to each other by way of the male's spine. However, in this specimen, the female was above the male, and the male was facing away from the female; evidently they needed some practice!