Thefirst uncovering of an in - situ megalodon toothwas made during a three - week expedition aboardExploration Vessel ( due east / V ) Nautilus . research worker were pilot the remote - operated vehicleHerculeswhen they trip up across theOtodus megalodontooth at a depth of around 3,090 meters ( 9,842 foot ) within the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument .
Themegalodontooth is keep only as the triangular diadem but it is in unco good status with the fine item of its serrated bound still visible . A jagged - edge tooth comes in ready to hand when hunting for fleshy nautical mammalian like whales and dolphinfish , as a serrate sharpness makes for the ultimate cutting tool .
“ This is an awesome discovery and is interesting in several aspects , ” saidNicolas Straube , Associate Professor at the University Museum Bergen in Norway and co - author of the subject , in a waiver netmail to IFLScience . “ The fogey was discovered at a very distant cryptic - sea neck of the woods from which megalodon fossils are rarely documented . Further , its fond encapsulation with manganese suggests that fossil shark teeth are an ideal basis for manganese accumulation . ”
The megalodon tooth next to manganese nodules found on the seabed.Image credit: Katherine Kelley
The tooth is coat in role with a gall of atomic number 25 , a chemical element that ’s cognise to develop around fogy nuclei . Manganese nodulesare objects of significant pursuit in the unripe barrage rotation , as some companies consider harvest abyssal plains for these lumps that are fertile in uncommon alloy could be a less detrimental way to source the natural material involve .
“ 90 pct of the worldly concern ’s exploration contracts for nodules are in the Clarion - Clipperton Zone , which represent less than half of 1 percentage of the global seafloor , ” The Metals Company public relations and Media ManagerRory Ushertold IFLScience .
“ But this represent the largest source of manganese , atomic number 28 , and cobalt , anywhere on the planet and that dwarfs everything on land by many order of magnitude . There are enough alloy in situ at two of the site that would satisfy the motive of 280 million car , which represents every car in America , or a quartern of the world ’s fomite fleet . ”
However , like all explorative idea , it’snot without its downside .
The trigger-happy tooth has sit down on the seabed for at least 3.5 million year , write the investigator , and in that metre may have serve as solid food for a peculiar group of worms . The segmented worm ( segmented worm)Osedax packardorumis known to bore into teeth to feed on dentin pulp magazine , and it ’s potential the jumbo teeth of megalodon could ’ve wait on as a satisfying meal .
From one marine predator ’s back talk to the seabed and a 3.5 - million - year wait to be trump up by a robot , this tooth surely has some stories to tell . Finding fossils in the thick ocean might not be easy , but the researchers say it indicate that it ’s deserving looking if we ’re going to fill in the break in our knowledge of these poorly preserved creature .
“ This fossil provide us with crucial insights into the statistical distribution of megalodon , ” said Jürgen Pollerspöck , researcher at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Germany and conscientious objector - author of the field . “ The sample distribution indicates that megalodon was not a strictly coastal species and that this metal money migrated across sea river basin similar to many advanced - twenty-four hour period species such as the not bad white shark . ”
The field is published in the journalHistorical Biology .
An earlier variation of this clause was print inDecember 2023 .
