A family that was out fishing on a river in South Alabama stumbled upon a 32-million-year-old leatherback sea turtle fossil, but remained quiet about their discovery for a year.

According to fox10tv.com, Adam Coleman, his wife, Adrienne, and their children, Talah and Corey, discovered the fossil embedded in a limestone bolder while fishing in 2021.

"I’d never seen anything like it," Adrienne Coleman said.

They didn’t tell anyone about the fossil until Adam read about paleontologist Dr. Andrew Gentry in a news article approximately a year later and reached out to him.

"When I saw the fossil for the first time, it was hard to believe what I was seeing," Gentry said. He explained that finding a turtle fossil with an intact shell, which is made of ossicles, is very rare due to the typical decay process.

Gentry, along with Jun Ebersole from McWane Science Center, and other researchers from McWayne Science Center, the Geological Survey of Alabama, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Alabama Aquarium and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corp recovered and studied the fossil. It is one of the most intact leatherback turtle shells known to exist in the western hemisphere, and was determined to have dated back to the early Oligocene Epoch.

The newly discovered genus and species, Ueloca colemanorum, incorporates the Muscogee language as it was named in collaboration with the Poarch Creek Indians.

“This is the first fossil to carry a Muscogee name and it’s exciting to see our language recognized in this way. Opportunities like this weave our voice into history and ensure it’s never forgotten,” said Samatha Martin, Creek language coordinator for the Poarch Creek Indians. “I’d like to thank Dr. Gentry for allowing the Tribe to be a part of this unique experience and extend a special thank you to Dr. Marcus Briggs-Cloud for his advice and expertise in the early stages of this project.”

Visitors to the McWane Science Center in Birmingham can see the fossil on display.