Shawn Gibson contacted Dr. Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology at CMM, about a fossil find that his brother, Donald, discovered. Donald found fossil shark vertebrae while digging footers for a new sunroom at the home of his parents, Donnie and Jo Ann Gibson. He contacted Pat Gotsis, a family friend who has collected fossils for over 40 years. Pat knew immediately it was something special. After a day of digging, Shawn, with help from his seven-year-old son Caleb, excavated more than 50 vertebrae. When they realized that the vertebrae led up to the shark’s skull with jaws full of teeth, Shawn called the museum for help.
Aside from their teeth, shark skeletons are made of cartilage, which does not fossilize nearly as well as bone. Typically after animals die if parts of their skeleton do not disintegrate immediately, they are scattered by scavengers. In this case, most of the teeth and skeleton stayed together in a life-like way as it became buried in sand on the ocean floor.
This skeleton belongs to the extinct snaggletooth shark, Hemipristis serra. More than 80 vertebrae and hundreds of teeth from one individual were found. The shark would have been eight to 10 feet long. The jaws and teeth were preserved mostly intact after the shark came to rest upside down on the ocean floor 15 million years ago during the Miocene epoch.
The closest living relative to this extinct Miocene shark is also known as the snaggletooth or weasel shark (Hemipristis elongata; Family Hemigaleidae). It is found in the Indo-West Pacific, including the Red Sea, from southeast Africa to the Philippines, north to China, and south to Australia, in coastal waters at depths of four to 400 feet. The living snaggletooth shark grows up to eight feet in length and preys upon crabs, cephalopods, other sharks, rays, and fish. The teeth of the extinct snaggletooth shark are so similar to those of its living relative that they probably had a comparable diet.
The skeleton is now at CMM where it will be prepared for display and research.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014 - 17:11
Calvert Marine Museum (CMM) paleontologists excavated a rare fossilized skeleton of a 15-million-year-old shark October 31. Uncovered by the Gibson family on their property in Chesapeake Beach, MD, this snaggletooth shark skeleton is the first of its kind ever found.
Shawn Gibson contacted Dr. Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology at CMM, about a fossil find that his brother, Donald, discovered. Donald found fossil shark vertebrae while digging footers for a new sunroom at the home of his parents, Donnie and Jo Ann Gibson. He contacted Pat Gotsis, a family friend who has collected fossils for over 40 years. Pat knew immediately it was something special. After a day of digging, Shawn, with help from his seven-year-old son Caleb, excavated more than 50 vertebrae. When they realized that the vertebrae led up to the shark’s skull with jaws full of teeth, Shawn called the museum for help.
Aside from their teeth, shark skeletons are made of cartilage, which does not fossilize nearly as well as bone. Typically after animals die if parts of their skeleton do not disintegrate immediately, they are scattered by scavengers. In this case, most of the teeth and skeleton stayed together in a life-like way as it became buried in sand on the ocean floor.
This skeleton belongs to the extinct snaggletooth shark, Hemipristis serra. More than 80 vertebrae and hundreds of teeth from one individual were found. The shark would have been eight to 10 feet long. The jaws and teeth were preserved mostly intact after the shark came to rest upside down on the ocean floor 15 million years ago during the Miocene epoch.
The closest living relative to this extinct Miocene shark is also known as the snaggletooth or weasel shark (Hemipristis elongata; Family Hemigaleidae). It is found in the Indo-West Pacific, including the Red Sea, from southeast Africa to the Philippines, north to China, and south to Australia, in coastal waters at depths of four to 400 feet. The living snaggletooth shark grows up to eight feet in length and preys upon crabs, cephalopods, other sharks, rays, and fish. The teeth of the extinct snaggletooth shark are so similar to those of its living relative that they probably had a comparable diet.
The skeleton is now at CMM where it will be prepared for display and research.
Shawn Gibson contacted Dr. Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology at CMM, about a fossil find that his brother, Donald, discovered. Donald found fossil shark vertebrae while digging footers for a new sunroom at the home of his parents, Donnie and Jo Ann Gibson. He contacted Pat Gotsis, a family friend who has collected fossils for over 40 years. Pat knew immediately it was something special. After a day of digging, Shawn, with help from his seven-year-old son Caleb, excavated more than 50 vertebrae. When they realized that the vertebrae led up to the shark’s skull with jaws full of teeth, Shawn called the museum for help.
Aside from their teeth, shark skeletons are made of cartilage, which does not fossilize nearly as well as bone. Typically after animals die if parts of their skeleton do not disintegrate immediately, they are scattered by scavengers. In this case, most of the teeth and skeleton stayed together in a life-like way as it became buried in sand on the ocean floor.
This skeleton belongs to the extinct snaggletooth shark, Hemipristis serra. More than 80 vertebrae and hundreds of teeth from one individual were found. The shark would have been eight to 10 feet long. The jaws and teeth were preserved mostly intact after the shark came to rest upside down on the ocean floor 15 million years ago during the Miocene epoch.
The closest living relative to this extinct Miocene shark is also known as the snaggletooth or weasel shark (Hemipristis elongata; Family Hemigaleidae). It is found in the Indo-West Pacific, including the Red Sea, from southeast Africa to the Philippines, north to China, and south to Australia, in coastal waters at depths of four to 400 feet. The living snaggletooth shark grows up to eight feet in length and preys upon crabs, cephalopods, other sharks, rays, and fish. The teeth of the extinct snaggletooth shark are so similar to those of its living relative that they probably had a comparable diet.
The skeleton is now at CMM where it will be prepared for display and research.