Two Shark-bitten Whale Skeletons from Coastal Plain Deposits of South Carolina

Two partial skeletons of baleen whales have been recovered from Coastal Plain deposits of South Carolina. One specimen, from the lower Pliocene Goose Creek Limestone, consists of a partial skull (including mandibles) and some incomplete ribs; the other was collected from Pleistocene-Holocene mud and includes numerous post-cranial elements in addition to fragmentary premaxillae and maxillae. These whale skeletons preserve compelling fossil/sub-fossil evidence, in the form of bite marks and shed/embedded teeth, that the elasmobranchs Galeocerdo cuvier, Carcharhinus falciformis, C. longimanus, C. obscurus, and C. plumbeus fed on cetacean carcasses.