Researchers discover six new species of shark in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave

(Dan Kitwood / Getty Images)

(MAMMOTH CAVE, Ky.) Researchers unearthed the fossilized remains of six species of ancient shark that were previously unknown to science in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park, the National Park Service announced Wednesday.

A team of paleontologists, cave specialists and park rangers identified at least 40 different species of sharks and their relatives, including the six new ones, over the past 10 months.

“I am absolutely amazed at the diversity of sharks we see while exploring the passages that make up Mammoth Cave,” paleontologist JP Hodnett said. “We can hardly move more than a couple of feet as another tooth or spine is spotted in the cave ceiling or wall.”

The NPS said the six new species will be described and named in a forthcoming scientific publication.

Geologist Jack Wood said that visitors would have a tough time viewing the fossils during cave tours due to their difficult-to-reach locations within the cave, but photographs, artists’ renditions and three-dimensional models are being prepared.

The 325 million-year-old fossil-rich limestones of the Mammoth Cave System were formed during the Late Paleozoic, during a time period known to geologists as the Mississippian Period, according to the NPS.

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