Maryland became the first state in the nation to designate an official state shark on Thursday, when the extinct megalodon joined nearly 300 other new laws taking effect across the state. The massive prehistoric predator, long associated with the fossil-rich cliffs of the Chesapeake Bay, now holds a formal place among Maryland's state symbols.
The designation had humble, scientific origins. As reported by WBFF, the Calvert Marine Museum described the megalodon in a news release as the largest predatory shark to ever live, with fossils found throughout the Chesapeake Bay region that offer insight into prehistoric marine ecosystems. The idea for the designation actually began inside that museum, where paleontology curator Dr. Stephen Godfrey and collections manager John Nance drafted the original legislative language and pitched it to state lawmakers, according to WMAR-2 News Baltimore. Godfrey noted that the designation would make Maryland the first state in the nation with an official state shark.
A Bumpy Path Through the Legislature
Getting there wasn't simple. The provision started as its own bill, Senate Bill 35, which stalled in committee earlier in the 2026 session, according to Popular Science. Lawmakers revived it on the final day of the session by attaching House Bill 97's language as an amendment to Senate Bill 35, the omnibus measure that ultimately carried the state shark designation into law. That same bill also named the Natural History Society of Maryland as the state's official Natural Sciences Museum and created Purple Lights Night for domestic violence awareness, per the Maryland General Assembly. Governor Wes Moore signed Senate Bill 35 into law ahead of its October 1 effective date.
Delegate Todd Morgan, who represents Calvert and St. Mary's counties and sponsored the bill, told WBFF the megalodon was one of the most famous prehistoric marine animals and once roamed the Chesapeake Bay. He even floated the idea that the megalodon might be a distant relative of Chessie, the famous monster of the Chesapeake. The bill's path to passage was also helped along by an unlikely lobbying force: hundreds of Maryland schoolchildren who wrote letters and sent hand-drawn pictures of megalodons to state legislators during the session, according to FOX 5 DC. That outlet reported Morgan called it one of the most enjoyable bills lawmakers worked on because of the youth involvement.
Fossils Found Across Seven Counties
Megalodon teeth have turned up in seven Maryland counties, per WBFF: Anne Arundel, Calvert, Caroline, Charles, Dorchester, Prince George's, and St. Mary's. The shark itself swam through shallow, warm seas that covered ancient Maryland during the Miocene Epoch, between roughly 23 million and 3.6 million years ago, growing up to 60 feet long and weighing around 50 tons, according to WBOC. The outlet noted that Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History estimates place the species at roughly three times the length of a modern great white shark.
Much of that fossil record funnels through one institution. The Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons houses more than 1,700 fossilized megalodon teeth in the Maryland State Paleontology Collection, including the state's only recorded associated dentition set of more than 50 teeth from a single prehistoric shark, according to The BayNet, which notes the museum serves as Maryland's State Paleontology Center. That rare dentition set has its own origin story: in June 2022, collections manager John Nance uncovered the 53-tooth set from a single 50-foot megalodon along Calvert Cliffs while waiting on the beach for wildlife officers to assist an injured fawn, as reported by Chesapeake Bay Magazine. Partial dentitions from a single megalodon are among fewer than a dozen known worldwide, the magazine reported.
From a Child's Lucky Find to a Lasting Symbol
Fossil hunting along the bay has produced its own local legends. Nine-year-old Maryland native Molly Sampson gained national attention on Christmas Day 2022 when she discovered a hand-sized megalodon tooth in knee-deep water near Calvert Cliffs, a find later authenticated by the Calvert Marine Museum, according to CBS News. The megalodon designation doesn't replace any existing symbols; Maryland has maintained an official state fossil shell since 1984, the extinct Miocene sea snail Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae, whose scientific name the legislature updated in 1994, per the Maryland Geological Survey. The megalodon now stands as a distinct state shark alongside that longstanding fossil emblem.
For anyone inspired to go looking for their own piece of prehistory, state regulators have rules to follow. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources permits public fossil hunting only on open beach shorelines, such as those at Calvert Cliffs State Park, and strictly prohibits digging into or walking beneath the 10- to 20-million-year-old cliffs because of severe landslide risk. Calvert Cliffs stretch roughly 24 miles along Calvert County's shoreline, offering ample room to search the open beach without venturing into the hazardous terrain above.
