Paleontologists have uncovered a lost world beneath Florida’s Gulf Coast.Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25According to a report from our sister station, WBBH in Fort Myers, a paleontologist at Florida Gulf Coast University has made a groundbreaking discovery of several shark and ray species in fossil form.Dr. Harry Maisch said fossils of ancient creatures lie buried in the sand, just off Venice’s coast, beneath the Gulf waters. Maisch and his team found micro teeth from species previously unknown in that area after collecting sediment from the seafloor. The samples measured less than a centimeter.“Fossils don’t have to be huge to be important,” Maisch told WBBH. Some of the species Maisch identified are globally extinct.The discovery marks the most diverse fossil shark-and-ray community ever documented in Florida. Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.
VENICE, Fla. —
Paleontologists have uncovered a lost world beneath Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25
According to a report from our sister station, WBBH in Fort Myers, a paleontologist at Florida Gulf Coast University has made a groundbreaking discovery of several shark and ray species in fossil form.
Dr. Harry Maisch said fossils of ancient creatures lie buried in the sand, just off Venice’s coast, beneath the Gulf waters.
Maisch and his team found micro teeth from species previously unknown in that area after collecting sediment from the seafloor. The samples measured less than a centimeter.
“Fossils don’t have to be huge to be important,” Maisch told WBBH.
Some of the species Maisch identified are globally extinct.
The discovery marks the most diverse fossil shark-and-ray community ever documented in Florida.
Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.