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The Megalodon, was a Miocene giant prehistoric shark that lived between about 16 to 1.6 million years ago.
It is considered to be the largest predatory fish to have ever lived. The best-educated estimates of this creature's maximum size range from 12 to 20 m (40 to 66 ft)
Megalodon Tooth from root to tip approx 10cm.
Genuine Fossil
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Charcharocles Megalodon lived from roughly 23 to 1.6 million years ago, during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. Inhabiting warm seas.
Charcharocles means Rough Tooth : Megalodon's teeth are made of a bone-like material coated with hard enamel which has fossillised very well.
Fossil teeth are the only surviving parts of Megalodon, therefore We can only guess what it looked like. Megalodon's teeth are very similar to the teeth of the Great White Shark (but bigger and thicker), therefore it is generally thought that Megalodon may have looked like a huge version of the Great White Shark. It is estimated that a large Megalodon's jaws could open 1.8m wide and 2.1m high. Therefore it could easily swallow a large Great White Shark whole. Fossil records reveal that the Megalodon fed on large animals including early whales.
The maximum size reached by Megalodon is debated, but a length of 12 to 20 metres is widely accepted. This would make it approx 2-3 times larger than a Great White.
Megalodon is recognized as the biggest known carnivorous fish to have ever existed. It is often termed the megatooth shark. The classification of this shark is currently under dispute and a new genus has been proposed called Carcharocles.
Kingdom : Animalia (animals)
Phylum : Chordata
Subphylum : Vertebrata (vertebrates)
Class : Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish)
Subclass : Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays)
Order : Lamniformes
Family : Lamnidae (genus Carcharodon) or Otodontidae (genus Carcharocles)
Genus : Carcharodon (meaning rough tooth) or Carcharocles
Species : Megalodon
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