Megalodon Vertebrae Rediscovered After Decades: New Insights into the Giant Shark’s Size and Growth

A set of Otodus megalodon vertebrae resurfaced on a shelf at the Museum of Southern Jutland in Denmark. The fossils, catalogued at the Geological Museum of Copenhagen before a 1989 move, were thought destroyed. Their appearance enabled researchers to re-examine the size and growth of a shark that lived 15–3.5 million years ago.

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Specimen loss recurs in natural history collections. Wartime bombing destroyed Spinosaurus material in Munich (1944) and a Diplodocus-like vertebra described by E. Cope vanished after his 1877 death. Recent disasters, such as the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and the 2018 fire at Brazil’s National Museum, also eliminated fossils. These events show how valuable specimens can disappear and occasionally reappear.

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Museum of Southern Jutland staff identified the vertebrae and collaborated with paleontologists who authored the study. The research builds on earlier Otodus megalodon tooth measurements and includes the largest known vertebra for the species, 23 cm in diameter.

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The 11-million-year-old vertebrae support prior estimates that adult Otodus megalodon could exceed 24 metres. The authors calculate that newborns were about 3.6 metres long and may have lived close to a century. Vertebral dimensions provide more reliable size proxies than isolated teeth.

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The specimen provides new data for estimating the size and growth of Otodus megalodon, supporting previous length estimates and offering a rare vertebral reference for life-history studies.

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Study authors state the vertebrae represent the most complete growth evidence for Otodus megalodon to date, confirming earlier length projections and underscoring vertebrae’s value for life-history analysis. Museum curators confirmed the specimens were unintentionally stored without proper identification for decades.

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Observers highlight cataloguing gaps in large collections, where millions of items increase loss risk. Reports of deliberate specimen concealment and occasional theft further threaten access. Critics call for stricter inventory protocols and open data sharing to reduce future losses.

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• “Museums are supposed to be havens for the collective cultural and scientific heritage of the planet, but specimens sometimes go missing.” — The Conversation, Publication

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• “These were seriously big fish.” — The Conversation, Publication

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• “I’ve been an eyewitness to lost specimens turning up in a museum when a colleague spotted a dinosaur skull and pterosaur skeleton sitting on the wrong shelf like misplaced library books.” — The Conversation, Publication

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• “Then there’s the more nefarious activities – I’ve heard of researchers deliberately moving specimens to make them hard to find so other researchers cannot examine them, and occasionally things are stolen from collections.” — The Conversation, Publication

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The vertebrae will be used in further morphometric analyses to improve growth models for Otodus megalodon. The rediscovery also highlights the potential for other misplaced fossils to reappear, encouraging museums to review collections for overlooked specimens.

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