Carcharocles megalodon
This above tooth is from Georgia, USA. Diagonally it measures
over 4", making the giant shark about 33 feet in length. Some
of the largest teeth found, about 7.5" would have belonged to
60 foot Megs!! These monsters
roamed the seas about 12 million years ago. Their closest
ancestors first appear in the fossil records about 60 million years
ago (Paleocene Epoch), when seas were warm, even in higher altitudes.
They inhabited the Paleocene seas of southern Russia, Morocco, Angola
and the United States.
Meg - Carcharodon megalodon, or Carcharocles
megalodon - ruled
the oceans 30 to 2 or 3 mya (Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene
Epochs). Most of the oldest Meg teeth date back to about 18 million
years ago
but teeth were also found in the Oligocen Epoch (35.5 mya to 23.3 mya). For
62 million years, this leviathan and its and predecessors ruled the
seas. Suddenly about 2 - 3 mya, the fossil record comes
to an abrupt halt. How could such a powerful beast disappear while
the great white and mako sharks lived on? Did Meg really die off, or
is it possible the toothy fish still exists somewhere in the depths
of our vast blue oceans!
What did Meg look like?
Some fossil shark researchers believe Meg may have been closely
related to great whites while others suggest Meg was more closely related
to sand tigers. Due to the huge size of Meg, a more reasonable shape,
according to Bretton Kent (faculty member at the University of Maryland),
is that of whale or basking shark.
The above information was taken
from a great book on Meg, written by famous fossil hunter Mark Renz, 'Megalodon,
Hunting the Hunter', Paleo Press ©2003.
If you would like more
information about Meg teeth,an excellent site is
http://www.megalodonteeth.com
