The Dorsal Fin

The story of a set of Megalodon jaws being up for auction in Dallas hit the news a couple of weeks ago. Recently, the AP released a video about the sale of the jaws, which contain 182 fossilized Megalodon teeth, 4 of which measure over 7 inches in length. The jaws “bones” themselves are actually fiberglass replicas.

The replica jaw was designed by Vito Bertucci a professional jeweler. An ABC News report about the auction notes that some scientists have disputed the accuracy of the jaw size and tooth placement. The jaw size is over-exaggerated due to larger front teeth being overly-repeated coupled with an unnatural slow decline in the progression from large to small teeth, according to shark fossil expert Kenshu Shimada. Despite conflicting opinions about the jaw size, the collection of teeth were still regarded as “beautiful specimens” by one of the scientists interviewed.

The shark jaws are set to go up for auction in June and are currently on display at Museum of Nature & Science in Dallas until they are sold. They are expected to sell for $700,000.

According to the article, Georgia Aquarium sinks teeth into new shark exhibit (please, disregard the bad shark pun in the title), a new 10,000 sq-ft exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta "treats sharks more like the hunted than the hunter, chronicles a dramatic decrease in their numbers, and seeks to turn around more than 30 years of bad PR."

"Planet Shark: Predator or Prey," which will open on October 3, will be an interactive exhibit will include full-scale models of sharks, shark jaws (models and actual jaws), as well as a frozen 10′ (3m) Mako shark. Mike Bhana, the exhibit’s producer was quoted as saying, "We want people to come away from the exhibit with empathy for an animal that has been mistreated for all the wrong reasons."