BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Researchers at Mammoth Cave have discovered two additional shark fossils within the cave walls.
Paleontologist Rick Toomey does a lot of his research deep underground. Spectrum News 1 went with Toomey who showed off several locations where shark fossils can be found.
Toomey has discovered two new species of sharks within the cave. One was the Glikmanius.
He was in the cave when he saw a fossil of the shark’s jaw and immediately contacted one of the experts with the Maryland-National Capital parks and Planning Commission.
Toomey said, “I took a picture of it and they said, ‘That’s almost a whole skull of a shark! And I think it’s the skull of a shark that’s nobody has seen the head of!’”
Researchers also found a shark species called Troglocladodus; they found it by accident. Mammoth Cave Superintendent Barclay Trimble found a tooth with Toomey on the way to see the Glikmanius jaw fossil.
Toomey said, “He [Trimble] looked up and pointed and said ‘Hey! Is that one of the shark’s teeth?’ And we said ‘Wow, that’s going to be a [..] really interesting shark.’”
But after further investigation, they discovered the shark was an entirely new undiscovered species. Both sharks were about 10 feet long and were living here over 340 million years ago.
The sharks were fast and could’ve even eaten other sharks as food.
Toomey said, “340 million years ago, there was a big ocean here. It would’ve been a great place to come snorkeling or scuba diving. You jump in and see those, and say ‘I think it’s time to go have a margarita instead.’”
Even though these two discoveries are monumental for research, eager paleontologists are still trying to unearth even more mysteries of what used to inhabit Mammoth Cave.