R & C | ICHTHYOLOGY | SHARKS: FACT AND FANTASY

Graveyard of the Deep.

This painting, by Museum artist Michael Meeker, depicts some of the sharks, bony fishes, sea turtles and marine mammals that lived between 13-15 million years ago in a large inland sea that covered what is now Central California. Sharktooth Hill, near Bakersfield, California, contains fossil teeth and bones of many of the animals that lived and died in this ancient sea. All of the animals pictured here are extinct; the common names are based on the closest living relatives.