Megalodon: greatest fish predator ever lived

• The greatest shark to have ever lived!
• Megalodon was the largest carnivorous fish in history.
• The Carcharodon megalodon comes from the Greek word for “big tooth”.
• C. megalodon was certainly piscivorous as well just like other sharks.
• This shark was as big as a bus at a length of 60 feet and estimated to weigh between 30-60 tons.
• The largest tooth of Megalodon ever found measured 7 inches in slant length.
• The weight is comparable to 7 large African elephants weighing 7 tons each!
• The Swiss naturalist, Louis Agassiz, gave this shark its scientific name, Carcharodon megalodon in 1835.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Disputed; either Lamnidae or Otodontidae
Genus: Disputed; either Carcharodon or Carcharocles
Species: C. megalodon

Carcharodon Megalodon was a giant shark that lived during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs of the Cenozoic Era, between 2 million and 16 million years ago. Little is known for sure about these giant predators because all that remains of their existence are fossilized teeth. C. megalodon was a warm water pelagic fish and it thrived in all the oceans of the world in its time. The teeth of this ancient shark have been excavated from many parts of the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, Malta and India.

There is evidence that C. megalodon preyed on whales, Cetotherium, and Odobenocetops, sirenians, dolphins, porpoises, pinnipeds and giant see turtles. The teeth from the megalodon shark are truly massive in both length and width. The largest teeth are as large as a man's hand and can weigh well over a pound. Another factor that greatly increases the value of a tooth is the degree of preservation. The vast majority of teeth that have become fossils have been destroyed by natural processes (erosion, chemical processes, etc.). Most megalodon teeth found have undergone quite a bit of destruction, with chunks of the tooth broken off, the enamel eaten through, or significant erosion wearing the natural features of the tooth.

Several hypotheses as to how an apex predator like C. megalodon suddenly became extinct after millions of years of existence. Factors such as abrupt global cooling of the Earth's climate coincided with changing ocean circulation, and shortage of food, have been known to cause demise of even dominant marine species.