Bryant shark
The Bryant shark (Cretalamna bryanti) is an extinct otodontid mackeral shark whose fossilized teeth have been found in several sites in central and west Alabama. They were deposited during the upper Santonian and lower Campanian ages of the late Cretaceous period (82 to 84 million years ago), when most of present-day Alabama was covered by shallow seas.
The teeth, where previously studied, had been more generically identified with Cretalamna appendiculata, now more closely associated with earlier (Turonian age) fossils found in Europe and north Africa. Recent studies have proposed six or more new species as reclassifications of existing fossils. Cretalamna bryanti is one such species which, thus far, is only known from Alabama fossils found in Mooreville chalk and Tombigbee sand formations from those periods.
Cretalamna is an ancestor of the extinct megalodon as well as of today's mako and great white sharks. The Bryant shark specimens collected suggest it was in the range of 10-12 feet long, similar to a modern mako shark.
The Bryant shark species was first described in a paper co-authored by Jun Ebersole, director of collections at the McWane Science Center, and Dana Ehret, curator of paleontology for the University of Alabama Museums. The species was named to honor the Bryant family (including Paul Bryant and Paul Bryant Jr) which has supported the work of both institutions.
References
- Ebersole, J. A. & D. J. Ehret (January 8, 2018) "A new species of Cretalamna sensu stricto (Lamniformes, Otodontidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian) of Alabama, USA" PeerJ 6:e4229
- Pillion, Dennis (January 8, 2018) "Paul 'Bear' Bryant now has an ancient shark species named after him." The Birmingham News