Santa Cruz Surfers Find Extinct Whale Fossil

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A group of surfers made quite the discovery while on a beach in Santa Cruz during low tide. An enormous fossilized row of vertebrae that have been determined to likely be from an extinct Pliocene-era whale.

Director Cary Griggs of the Institute of Marine Sciences has been quoted as saying the rocks exposed along the coastline here near Pleasure Point are marine sedimentary rocks of the Pliocent Purisma Formation, about 3-5 million years old, they…formed in a shallow marine environment and contain lenses of mollusc shells as well as numerous marine mammal fossils.” One of the individuals responsible for the sighting posted under user name “Donkahones,” that can be viewed on Reddit.

In addition to being a surfer’s heaven, this fossil is not the only one to have been discovered in the area in recent years. In 2009 a forty-four inch fossilized vertebrae of an ancient whale was found during a construction project and was displayed in 2010.