Megalodon could become Maryland’s official state shark
In a state best known for its delicious seafood and home to the U.S. Navy, a new effort is underway to create the nation’s first state shark. Earlier this month, Maryland State Senator Jack Bailey and House Delegate Todd Morgan filed SB135 to designate the megalodon (Otodus megalodon) as the official state shark.
Although the mighty megalodon no longer swims along the Bay State’s shores, the enormous prehistoric shark relative once dominated the shallow seas that covered Maryland and the rest of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. They lived around 23 million years ago (in the Miocene epoch), before disappearing around 3.6 million years ago. They were about three times larger than a modern great white shark. Some estimates put them at over 82 feet long and 66,000 pounds. They mainly ate whales and the ancestors of dolphins and manatees, while their young hunted seals.
But why should “the mega” be Maryland’s state shark? The beaches of southern Maryland are full of megalodon fossils, especially their giant teeth. Megalodon teeth have been found in several counties, including Anne Arundel, Caroline, Calvert, Charles, Dorchester, Prince George’s and St. Mary’s. Citizen scientists and paleontologists have also discovered teeth from other non-megalodon prehistoric shark species, including Galeocerdo contortus And Galeocerdo triqueter (similar to modern-day tiger sharks) and Sphyrma prisca (a relative of the hammerhead shark).
Calvert Cliffs State Park in southern Maryland is a common place to dig up teeth, and the Calvert Marine Museum has a number of fossils on display. Paleontologists believe Maryland was once a birthing ground for whales and dolphins and a nursery for hungry megalodons. An approximately 15-million-year-old fractured whale vertebra and tooth discovered at Calvert Cliffs even show evidence of a possible megalodon attack.
“It turns out no state has a state shark, so we’re hoping Maryland will be the first,” Dr. Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum in southern Maryland, told WMAR Baltimore. “To me, it’s such an iconic animal. I think it’s time for the megalodon to take center stage as the first shark designated as the state shark.”
If the bill is approved by the Maryland General Assembly and signed by Governor Wes Moore, the designation would take effect October 1, 2026. The megalodon would join Maryland’s other state symbols, including the Baltimore oriole (state bird), jousting (state sport), and marching (state drill).
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