Your net will not bring up the elephan- 

 tine mammoth, 50-foot shark, or 40 

 million-year-old tree- -but nets have 

 raised their fossils. 



RARE FOSSILS DREDGED OFF ATLANTIC COAST 



By Roland L. Wigley* 



During the past 2 years, 5 rare fossils of 

 plants and animals of considerable scientific 

 importance have been collected by commercial 

 fishermen in offshore waters of Massachusetts, 

 New York, and Virginia (fig. 1). These speci- 

 mens were dredged from the oceanbottom dur- 

 ing regular fishing operations with ottertrawls 

 or scallop dredges and brought into port by 



GIANT SHARK TOOTH 



&* 



■SILICIFIED TREE 



'■^SALT-MARSH PEAT 



i' 



WALRUS TUSK 



"Pr^ . 



i— MAMMOTH TOOTH 



7' .5°. 



?'V 



-iii 



alert and inquisitive fishermen. John V. Ma- 

 honey, BCF representative in New Bedford, 

 Mass., forwarded the specimens to the author 

 at the Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 

 Mass. Some of the fossils were loaned by the 

 owners for a short period of time for examina- 

 tion; others were donated for analysis or de- 

 posited in the Smithsonian Institution, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. Persons finding similar speci- 

 mens should send them to scientific institu- 

 tions. 



GIANT SHARK TOOTH 



A fossil shark tooth 4 inches long and 4^ 

 inches wide at the base (fig. 2) was dredged by 



Fig. 1 - Collection sites of fossils recently found off northeastern Fig. 2 - Fossil tooth from the giant shark Carcharodon meqalodon . 



coast of United States. an extinct species. 



♦Fishery Research Biologist, Biological Laboratory, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Woods Hole, Mass. 

 Photo Credit: R.K. Brigham and R.B. Theroux. 



U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

 Fisli and Wildlife Service 

 Sep. No. 774 



28 



