Lost Megalodon Fossil Resurfaces, Confirming the Shark's Record Size

A fossil the size of a dinner plate, found in a pit in Denmark in 1978 and thought destroyed for decades, has just been reconfirmed. Its rediscovery settles one of paleontology's most debated questions: just how large could Otodus megalodon actually grow?

The answer is staggering. The 23-centimeter vertebra, the largest megalodon vertebra ever recorded, supports a maximum length estimate of 24.3 meters (roughly 80 feet) for the prehistoric shark. That is about as long as two standard city buses placed end to end, and four times the length of a record great white shark.

A Fossil Found, Lost, and Found Again

The story begins at the Gram Clay Pits in southern Denmark, where paleontologists in 1978 unearthed approximately 20 vertebrae from a single megalodon individual. The standout piece measured 23 centimeters across, larger than any megalodon vertebra before or since. Because sharks have cartilaginous skeletons that rarely fossilize, vertebrae and teeth are among the only hard tissues that survive in the fossil record, making this find exceptional.