Is There Any Chance Anything Besides Meg Teeth Under Some Bizarre Condition, Could Be Fossilized And Found?

[Angryraptor78]

I know they are made of cartilage, so sharks only leave behind teeth and bits of vertebrate, but are there any other ways something else could be found left of the megalodon? It kinda drives me nuts not knowing what this animal looks like. What about some kind of trace fossil, or any kind of bizarre condition cartilage might last longer and leave some remnant behind? Also, if these only went extinct around 2.5 million years ago, and DNA is completely gone by 6, is there any chance bits of different DNA could be extracted and strung together?

[jcbshark]

There's also coprolites and examples of predation on bones

Edited February 23, 2015 by jcbshark

[Jesuslover340]

I recently watched a documentary that claims, at least, there to be a handful of vertebrae, though being made of cartilage, I'm not sure how this is so...

Edited February 23, 2015 by Jesuslover340

[Carcharodontosaurus]

Although it is thought that DNA can last for up to 6.8 million years, it becomes unreadable at 1.5 in the best natural conditions (in artificial conditions, it might last much longer). The oldest animal DNA recovered is 700,000 years old, though it is likely that this record will be broken in the future. So no, you could not sequence the genome of a megalodon or bring a true megalodon back to life. It might be possible in the future to alter the genes or hormones of a great white shark to make it the size of a meg, but where would you put it? No aquarium would be large enough to house it.

[BobWill]

I've found shark cartilage from a braincase that is Pennsylvanian. Also have many Cretaceous vertebrae which are cartilage. If

they managed to fossilize than certainly there can be (and is) megalodon cartilage.

[ashcraft]

As a shark ages, its bones become mineralized or "ossified". They are much harder and more likely to fossilize. I have one from the Cretaceous that is an example of this.

Brent Ashcraft

[jcbshark]

I have found quite a few shark verts as well but not as many as fish. On a good day I may find 2 or 3 in good shape

[sixgill pete]

Shark verts are not uncommon at all. I probably have a hundred or more from the Cretaceous through the Pliocene. Most of them are from smaller sharks though. I have 2 or 3 that are rather large from Lee Creek that could be meg verts I suppose. Also like others have said, I have seen brain cases and lots of cartilage. Also shark dorsal fin spines.

[verydeadthings]

Fossilized shark jaws are quite rare, outside of some lagerstatten. There are a few examples I can think of from the Cenozoic of articulated dentitions, one in particular which is relevant to different theories on the phylogenetic position of Megalodon. An articulated jaw of Carcharodon hubbelli was found in late Miocene of Peru, and gives some support to the idea that the modern great white is more closely related to the mako sharks (genus Isurus) than Megalodon (http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/pressroom/2012/11/14/new-ancient-shark-species-gives-insight-into-origin-of-great-white/). The scientific article may be hidden behind a pay wall, it's been a while since I read it.

To more directly answer your question, most shark fossils are teeth, coprolites, vertebrae, or denticles. A google search turned up this video, which shows a Megalodon vertebra from Gordon Hubbel's collection, as well as the C. hubbelli jaw (

). I'm not aware of any coprolites or denticles being identified as Megalodon. The chance of a Megalodon jaw or other skeletal material being found articulated is quite low, even more than other sharks due to its size. Although you probably won't get DNA from a Megalodon fossil (that's a can of worms for another post), there is definitely potential research that has not yet been done on the molecular and isotopic composition of fossilized Megalodon teeth.

[verydeadthings]

Actually, I'm not aware of any other Cenozoic fossil shark jaws in the scientific literature, the next youngest I can think of is a Cretoxyrhina mantelli dentition from the Cretaceous (http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1660/062.114.0102). I'd be happy to be corrected, so if someone knows about another Cenozoic jaw, please let me know

[Coco]

Dirk Nolf put a part of a fossil shark jaw on his book "Dents de requins et raies de du Tertiaire de la Belgique".

,

"Fragment de la mâchoire inférieure de Synodontaspis acutissima AGASSIZ, 1844, provenant de l'Argile de Boom. Il est extrêmement rare de trouver à l'état fossiles des dents associées au cartilage de la mâchoire ; le spécimen figuré est le seul connu du Tertiaire de Belgique", écrit en 1988.

"Part of a lower jaw of Synodontaspis acutissima AGASSIZ, 1844, from Boom Argile. It is very rare to find fossils teeth associated with the jaw cartilage. The specimen shown is the only one known from Belgium Tertiary".

Now Synodontaspis acutissima is Carcharias acutissima.

Coco

[Al Dente]

Actually, I'm not aware of any other Cenozoic fossil shark jaws in the scientific literature, the next youngest I can think of is a Cretoxyrhina mantelli dentition from the Cretaceous (http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1660/062.114.0102). I'd be happy to be corrected, so if someone knows about another Cenozoic jaw, please let me know

There are several places where articulated or partially articulated sharks are found in the Cenozoic. I'm not sure how many of these have complete jaws preserved. There recently was a Hemipristis serra skeleton found in the Miocene of Maryland. Complete Makos have been found in California and Peru(or maybe it's Chile instead of Peru). At least 6 different species have been found in a clay pit in the Oligocene of Germany. There was a partial basking shark from the Miocene of Oregon.

[Koss1959]

A friend of mine has found two and a half jurassic sharks from the same location.

[verydeadthings]

Thanks for the info, guys! I'll try and find them by myself through an internet search, but could you post the title of the papers?

[verydeadthings]

Ok, so the Hemipristis serra was found in 2014 and was excavated by the Calvert Marine Museum (http://smnewsnet.com/archives/142653/first-fossil-snaggletooth-shark-skeleton-ever-found/). I couldn't find a published paper on this specimen, hopefully that happens eventually. I found some references for the German Oligocene material (http://www.researchgate.net/publication/259974834_A_review_of_the_chondrichthyan_fauna_of_Grube_Unterfeld_(Frauenweiler)_clay_pit). Also, a basking shark from the Oligocene of Germany (http://www.researchgate.net/publication/257787299_A_partial_skeleton_of_Cetorhinus_parvus_Leriche_1910_(Chondrichthyes_Cetorhinidae)_from_the_Oligocene_of_Germany). I found a reference to the basking shark you mentioned, Al Dente (http://scholar.oxy.edu/scas/vol112/iss2/3/). I couldn't find any references to articulated Cenozoic Isurus dentitions...probably just wasn't able to locate it.

There's also an interesting paper by Kriwet et al. that has been accepted for publication, and the pdf is available at Dr. Kriwet's website. It's a Miocene mackerel shark, and he has proposed a new genus, Carcharomodus, for this specimen: (https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app59/app000662014_acc.pdf)

Thanks to Coco and Al Dente for the information. I'm sure there are other specimens in the literature that I missed. Fossil shark jaws are not quite as rare as I had previously thought!

[Auspex]

Ok, so the Hemipristis serra was found in 2014 and was excavated by the Calvert Marine Museum (http://smnewsnet.com/archives/142653/first-fossil-snaggletooth-shark-skeleton-ever-found/). I couldn't find a published paper on this specimen, hopefully that happens eventually. ..

It is highly unlikely that anything substantial will be published on this unique specimen; last I heard, the property owners had opted to cash-in commercially, rather than see it curated (after the museum excavated it).

[verydeadthings]

Bummer

[Al Dente]

There's also an interesting paper by Kriwet et al. that has been accepted for publication, and the pdf is available at Dr. Kriwet's website. It's a Miocene mackerel shark, and he has proposed a new genus, Carcharomodus, for this specimen: (https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app59/app000662014_acc.pdf)

!

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting.

[Doctor Mud]

It is highly unlikely that anything substantial will be published on this unique specimen; last I heard, the property owners had opted to cash-in commercially, rather than see it curated (after the museum excavated it).

Whoa.....

[Doctor Mud]

For those that haven't seen this wonderful specimen:

http://www.otago.ac.nz/geology/research/paleontology/carcharodon-angustidens.html

Associated teeth and verts from Carcharocles angustidens from New Zealand.

Here's a figure from the Gottfried & Fordyce paper showing the layout of the teeth and verts.

NZ Carcharodon associated specimen.pdf

And a copy of the paper.

This shows an example of preservation of teeth, verts and cartilage (although scrappy bits).

[njfossilhunter]

Those were some interesting posts,,, Thank You ,,very informative