A fossil from the biggest shark known to science has turned up again after disappearing during a museum move in 1989, according to a new study in Palaeontologia Electronica.
The specimen, now cataloged as NHMD 157890, is part of an associated vertebral fossil from Otodus megalodon, the extinct megatooth shark that has done a long second career as movie monster material. Researchers led by Kenshu Shimada of DePaul University reported that a collection manager at the Natural History Museum of Denmark recently found a small part of the material, which had been treated as lost for decades.
The fossil comes from the Upper Miocene Gram Formation in Denmark and is about 10.8 million years old, according to the study. Mette Elstrup of the Museum of Southern Jutland is shown with the specimen in the study materials, with a reconstructed megalodon jaw model behind it, which is about as subtle as paleontology gets.
Why one vertebra matters
The rediscovered fossil measures about nine inches across. Shimada and his co-authors described it as the largest shark vertebral specimen known so far. They also said it may be the largest non-tetrapod vertebra yet recorded, using the scientific bucket that excludes four-limbed animals and their descendants.
That size matters because the fossil gives researchers another hard data point for estimating how large megalodon could get. The team said NHMD 157890 supports the view that the animal could reach about 80 feet in length, and possibly more.
That is the part worth separating from the usual shark hype. The study does not claim to have found a complete megalodon, or a fresh skeleton with every anatomical argument neatly settled. It reports the rediscovery and formal cataloging of a vertebral specimen that had fallen out of sight, then uses that fossil to comment on the animal’s upper size range.
Megalodon has been extinct for millions of years, but its body size remains a live paleobiological question because researchers work from incomplete remains. A very large vertebra is therefore not just a museum curiosity. It is evidence that can constrain estimates of what the animal’s body could plausibly have been.
A museum problem with scientific consequences
The researchers said the vertebral material went missing in 1989 while collections were being transferred between facilities. Its recovery shows how much science can depend on unglamorous collection work: labels, storage rooms, catalog numbers, and the person who notices that a fossil in a drawer is not just another old rock.
Shimada’s team said the specimen had been thought lost before its recent rediscovery. With NHMD 157890 now formally cataloged, the fossil is back in the scientific record rather than floating around as a cautionary tale about moving day.
The study’s conclusion is satisfyingly blunt for anyone keeping score at home: a very dead shark still has something to say about how large the largest shark got.
This story draws on original reporting from 404 Media.
