Designed by conceptual artist Ian Breheny, a 3-foot model of Carcharocles megalodon marked the beginning of what would become a 60-foot aluminum shark with a mouth wide enough to swallow several people at once - just like the real thing. In addition to the colossal Megalodon, the exhibit features facts about other sharks old and new, strange and common, how sharks have influenced culture from Native Americans to Hollywood and why conservation of sharks and their relatives is important.

With tattered gloves from pointed teeth, sculptor Ron Chesser measures the fit of a goblin shark's (Mitsukurina owstoni) lower jaw. When eating, their protrudable jaw helps them bypass an unusually large snout.

Seen from above, the smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) looks like a cross between a shark and a ray. The smalltooth sawfish occurs all over the world mostly in shallow estuaries and bays. However, overfishing and habitat destruction have caused major problems for this astonishing creature. South Florida currently is the only remaining sanctuary in North America of a historical range that stretched from the coasts of New York to Texas. It was placed on the U.S. endangered species list in 2003.

Framed by an enormous jaw worthy only of Megalodon, museum sculptor Jeff Huber stretches to spray a protective coating on the model before it can be displayed. Scientists can estimate shark size by their teeth.

Design of the exhibit's information panels and brochures, and marketing concepts such as the logo, were vital to the success of Megalodon. The museum hired Anais LaTortue (background) as an intern to help full-time graphic designer Elecia Crumpton (foreground) handle the immense workload.

Soft light and a fresh coat of paint accentuate the musculature details of a ferocious predator, the great white shark (Carcharocles carcharias), as it hangs in a staging area outside of the museum. The white shark, as scientists know it, is a relative of Megalodon, but how close remains in dispute.

A Megalodon tooth fits perfectly into a custom-made brass stand, shedding light on the meticulous processes required to create a first-class exhibit. Like a unique sculpture, staff custom-design each stand for a specific tooth or object.

If still alive today, the scissor-toothed shark (Edestus giganteus) could make mince meat of sculptor Jeff Sheldon, silhouetted in the background. This fearsome predator became extinct about 300 million years ago. Sheldon helped create the menacing Edestus, the hammerhead he's standing next to and the great white shark in the distant background.

Facility manager Jay Weber is at home in the darkroom where he finishes exposing a silkscreen image of various sharks such as the sixgill, mako and thresher. The images are silkscreened on small "doors" that when opened reveal information about that specific shark. Megalodon creators were careful to make the exhibit engaging for children and adults.

At the core of the exhibit are 29 wooden wall segments that require assembly into 13 information panels. Nine segments are pictured above as project manager Kurt Auffenberg (left), works with Jay Fowler, one of the exhibit's designers, to adjust the portable wall.

Exhibit fabrication is hands-on: Carpenter Pat Bennett aligns two walls with a hammer as colleague Nathan Bruce twists a camlock to secure the two pieces. Bennett and Bruce glued plastic information panels - with photographs, text, and illustrations - to the wooden walls, after which they were erected in the exhibit for display.

The fabrication area - where the magic happens in exhibit design at the Florida Museum - temporarily turns into a parking lot for nearly finished sharks models, as Jeff Huber adds some touch-up paint to the belly of a great white shark.

Megalodon comes first in exhibit set up, as Ian Breheny fetches a tool to put the finishing touches on the aluminum jaw. The 60-foot leviathan is one of kind. The Florida Museum is the first to build a life-size replica of this fascinating creature.

Cleaning the exhibit Plexiglas is a full-time job. Sculptor Mary Lowry put on a different hat when she volunteered for the job and climbed into a display case to reach the stubborn inside corners - all the while the exhibit steadily growing around her.

Step-by-step the exhibit is assembled as airborne sharks and a promenade of Megalodon jaws come together to dwarf Ian Breheny and Nathan Bruce.

Tom Kyne (background), who manages traveling exhibits, worked with sculptor Bob Leavy to assemble display cases containing delicate fossils, taking into consideration details like object placement and lighting angles. Staff designed the exhibit to be user friendly and accommodate other venues. Megalodon will travel to museums around the nation after it leaves Gainesville in January, 2008.

How many museum employees does it take to build an exhibit? Several. Thirty-three museum employees, volunteers, and shark experts helped put Megalodon together from concept, design, construction, and set up, to more minute details like proofreading and research. Assistant Director of Exhibits, Darcie MacMahon (left), worked closely with everyone involved, like graphic designer Elecia Crumpton, to bring all the pieces together.

Bounding over the last Megalodon hurdle to completion, Jay Weber uses a hydraulic lift to strategically redirect spot lights as exhibit doors open, revealing for the first time the fruit of the museum's labor.

Megalodon's maw swallows parents and their kids on opening day where the mystery and majesty of the largest shark that ever lived consumes museum-goers in awe. The museum's message of conservation through education culminated with more than 2,500 people attending opening day festivities that included a shark-tooth hunt in a sand-filled pool, fossil clubs from around Florida and tours and book signings by Mark Renz author of Megalodon: Hunting the Hunter.