Exploring the world’s largest cave, they uncover two monstrous new sea creatures

The ocean floor has always offered a wealth of opportunity for the scientific community. Countless studies have been carried out based on the discovery of fossils from long-extinct marine animals.

The two most recent specimens were found in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky—the largest cave system in the world—and identified as Troglocladodus trimblei and Glikmanius careforum. Both species belong to the now-extinct genus of ctenacanth sharks, considered ancestors of modern sharks that now roam our seas and oceans.

One of their most distinctive features is their dorsal spines, which resemble the teeth of a comb. These two species, which measured between 10 and 12 feet long, were identified primarily by their teeth. According to experts, these sharks “would have hunted the ancient near-shore habitats that covered Kentucky and Alabama over 325 million years ago.”

In a statement, Kentucky’s National Park Service also noted that the region was once “an ancient seaway that connected what is now eastern North America, Europe, and northern Africa,” which later vanished with the formation of Pangaea—the supercontinent that merged all the Earth’s land masses more than 330 million years ago.

Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave is a vast limestone cavern with over 420 miles of explored passageways spread across five distinct levels. It was designated a National Park in 1941, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, and recognized as a Biosphere Reserve in 1990.

This discovery will be essential for scientists seeking to better understand marine ecosystems from millions of years ago—and especially how they evolved into the ones we know today.

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