Friday the thirteenth ain’t bad at Matoaka!

[Fossil-Hound]

1 hour ago, WhodamanHD said:

Don’t worry, I won’t! I’ll find them at some point. Thanks! I read somewhere they probably got to like 20 feet and seeing as the largest teeth are around 2 inches, a one incher should be half that. 

 

Yes indeed. The tooth of a ten foot shark that probably fed on Pinnipeds and Manatees in the ancient Chesapeake sea. I heard that Calvert Cliffs was a shallow sea close to shore during the Miocene and a nursery for Cetaceans, Pinnipeds, Manatees and other marine life. During the Miocene Maryland would have been closer to the equator with camels, rhinoceros, mastodon, etc. near the shoreline. 

 

From: http://calvert-county.com/fossils.htm

 

"Most of the whale and many of the porpoise skeletons are of immature animals, which suggests that this area was a calving ground."

 

Here's a map of what Maryland and the eastern seaboard would have looked like during the Miocene:

 

Source: http://www.calvertmarinemuseum.com/DocumentCenter/View/630/CMM-Paleontology-Symposium-2006

 

It makes sense why so many large predator sharks such as H. serra, C. chubutensis, and C. megalodon were hear as is evidence by the teeth we find. They were after the young and maturing whales, seals, manatees, and dolphins in the area. I'm sure the larger C. megalodon's could set up ambush points under the sand bar and breach larger whales as they were going into the coastal waters to give birth etc.

[Miocene_Mason]

@Fossil-Hound it’s strange to think about such a huge weasel shark, much more a weasel shark feeding on ceteceans! It seems sirenians are much rarer on the cliffs than at other Miocene sites for some reason. Perhaps because the cliffs are earlier Miocene? I’ve seen a few pinniped bones, all were at the CMM. I heard that the cliffs was also probably a nursing ground for Otodus megalodon and Otodus chubutensis given the amount of juvenile teeth found there, generally teeth tend to be under three inches. I love that map by the way, informative about Thecacampsia and it’s relation to modern Tomistomes. 

[Fossil-Hound]

19 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

@Fossil-Hound it’s strange to think about such a huge weasel shark, much more a weasel shark feeding on ceteceans! It seems sirenians are much rarer on the cliffs than at other Miocene sites for some reason. Perhaps because the cliffs are earlier Miocene? I’ve seen a few pinniped bones, all were at the CMM. I heard that the cliffs was also probably a nursing ground for Otodus megalodon and Otodus chubutensis given the amount of juvenile teeth found there, generally teeth tend to be under three inches. I love that map by the way, informative about Thecacampsia and it’s relation to modern Tomistomes. 

 

I'm fairly certain I've found a few pinniped ribs at Calvert Cliffs. Yeah they were a nursing ground for a lot of stuff. My guess is the juvenile sharks would feed off of the younger prey items as it was all fairly close to shore. I can imagine the shoreline was probably littered with pinnipeds. Must of been a similar setup to South Africa or Monterey Bay. That map is really neat. Puts it all into perspective. What I've heard from others is that there were more O. chubutensis but it can be sometimes difficult to distinguish young O. chubutensis against the O. megalodon. The crocodile reference is really neat. Tomistomes are freshwater so I believe there were inlets around the shoreline. There's a bunch of Cypress trees and evidence of ancient swamps in Pokomoke and near Assateague island. It would be really neat to travel back in time and see everything. Imagine huge shark fins coming up out of the water. The amount of wildlife in the area must have been significant to sustain so many apex predators.

[Miocene_Mason]

On 7/20/2018 at 11:26 AM, Fossil-Hound said:

What I've heard from others is that there were more O. chubutensis

Yeah, that’s probably because of the age (early-mid Miocene).

 

On 7/20/2018 at 11:26 AM, Fossil-Hound said:

There's a bunch of Cypress trees and evidence of ancient swamps in Pokomoke and near Assateague island.

Really? That sounds interesting! Never heard of that before.

 

On 7/20/2018 at 11:26 AM, Fossil-Hound said:

The amount of wildlife in the area must have been significant to sustain so many apex predators.

What a majestic sight it would have been, whales and dolphins jumping in every direction! Though the occasional shark attack might break the whimsical scene.

[Fossil-Hound]

18 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Yeah, that’s probably because of the age (early-mid Miocene).

 

Really? That sounds interesting! Never heard of that before.

 

What a majestic sight it would have been, whales and dolphins jumping in every direction! Though the occasional shark attack might break the whimsical scene.

Well then you should check them out! Here's some that remain to this day:

 

http://dnr.maryland.gov/centennial/Pages/Centennial-Notes/SouthernExposure.aspx