Megalodon
Otodus megalodon
Megalodon was one of the largest known marine predators and helps reconstruct food webs in ancient oceans.
Image: JJonahJackalope · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Sites on today's globe · 1 marker
Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Otodus megalodon
- Period
- Miocene–Pliocene
- Lived
- 23–3.6 Ma (23 million years ago)
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Habitat
- Open sea
- Length (estimate)
- 16 m
- Mass (estimate)
- 50,000 kg
Description
Megalodon was a large extinct shark known chiefly from broad, serrated teeth and rare vertebral remains. Its teeth indicate a predator capable of attacking large fish and marine mammals. Estimates of length and mass remain uncertain because cartilage rarely fossilises and modern great white sharks are not necessarily its closest relatives. Climate change, changes in prey and competition may all have contributed to its disappearance.
Habitat
Warm coastal waters and open oceans worldwide.
Fossil sites
Calvert Cliffs, Maryland
Calvert Formation
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Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Megalodon