A new species of ancient shark has been named in honor of Alabama football coaching legend Paul “Bear” Bryant.
The species, Cretalamna bryanti, was discovered by scientists studying fossils housed in the collections of the McWane Science Center and the Alabama Museum of Natural History. The large-toothed shark lived during the Late Cretacious Period nearly 83 million years ago and was a likely ancestor to the megalodon.
“The members of the Bryant family have been long-time supporters of not only the McWane Science Center, but also the Alabama Museum of Natural History,” McWane collections director Jun Ebersole told the Alabama NewsCenter. “The new species honors the Bryant family’s long-standing commitment to education in our state.”
Based on the fossil record, the Bryant Shark had teeth over an inch long and would reach overall lengths of around 15 feet.
The teeth of this shark had been in the museums collection for over forty years after being unearthed in the Tombigbee Sand Member and Mooreville Chalk exposures in Dallas, Greene, and Hale counties, all located in west-central or western Alabama. The findings were published this week in the journal Peer J.
