Here lies the skeleton of Nehalaennia devossi, a whale that lived about eight million years ago in the North Sea. Nehalaennia was one of the first baleen whales in the world and an ancestor of the humpback whale and the blue whale, which still exist today. This seven-meter-long skeleton is unique in the world and has been assembled from various finds recovered from the Westerschelde. In the seabed of the Westerschelde lies – in the same position as displayed here and beneath the mammoth cargo tankers that sail above – a graveyard of whales and dolphins. All of these species are new to science and are now being given names. This baleen whale is named after Nehalennia, a native goddess of the sea and the patron saint of fishermen, and John de Vos, a renowned Dutch paleontologist.