Scientists Assemble Sea Turtle Fossil: Discovered more than 160 Years Apart (Video)

Thank fossil hunter Gregory Harpel for reuniting two fossil halves of the same turtle's arm bones discovered close to 200 years apart.

National Geographic notes that Harpel discovered a lump of bone along a New Jersey river bank, with an original goal of spotting shark teeth on this collecting trip.

He took his findings to paleontologists at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton, where natural history curator David Parris immediately recognized the remains as something extraordinary. Moreover, researchers discovered that it was similar to a unique fossil discovered some 163 years earlier.

"When two pieces of a fossil fit together, they fit perfectly like a puzzle piece," said Jason Schein, an assistant curator of natural history at the New Jersey State Museum, who was in the room when the two bone halves were first reunited, according to LA Times. "We were just kind of dumbfounded."

Scientists note that these turtle bones are 70 to 75 million years old and were found in a shallow sea that once covered present central New Jersey.

"We all laughed because the thought they would be a match, or fit together, was so absurd and ridiculous it was comical," said Schein, who works under David Parris, the museum's curator of natural history, via the news organization. "As soon as I saw them fit together -- it was just like, what I'm seeing in front of me can't be happening. It's too crazy."

One incredible finding from this accidental discovery is the remarkable size that the animal would have been. For instance, when both halves of the humerus were placed together, the bone came in at 21 inches long, making Atlantochelys mortoni one of the largest sea turtles that ever lived.

As for an even greater treat, most fossils can only survive a few decades. However, this newest find lived through over 150 years of weathering damages. Makes you think. What other fossils might have endured?

More information regarding the finding can be seen via the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Want to find out more? Check out this video, courtesy of YouTube.