megalodon Shark Tooth

'Megalodon' - this sonorous name probably evokes fascination and respect in every elasmobranch aficionado because everyone knows those gigantic jaw replicas which give us an idea of the truly monstrous size of this shark. There are many myths and speculations about this Megatooth Shark which often is presented as a direct ancestor of the Great White Shark Carcharodon carcharias, almost looking alike but the size of a modern Blue Whale... Some even speculate that these animals are still living today, somewhere in the vast realms of the deep sea. But this is wishful thinking and ignoring existing evidence as one can easily guess. After thorough scrutiny many theories have to be strongly revised and with new fossil finds more and more 'hard facts' see the light of day which change our image of Megatooth completely... Since over 20 years D.E.G. member Lutz Andres is collecting fossil shark teeth. During recent years he has been studying the evolution of certain shark species. Here is his interpretation of what nowadays is under discussion in elasmobranch paleontologist circles.

(Big Fossil Shark Tooth/Megalodon)

Evolution of a Super Predator

Sharks are one of evolution's most enduring success stories. Although they have few hard parts that can survive the insults of geologic time, sharks have left a long and rich fossil record. Some 2,000 to 3,000 species of fossil shark have been described. In contrast, the total cast of the dinosaur dynasty comprises only about 650 to 800 species. The ancestry of sharks dates back more than 200 million years before the earliest known dinosaur. The dinosaurs are long gone now, canceled despite enthusiastic ratings (especially among the 8-year-old demographic). But we still have sharks - about 1,100 species of them. To understand the sharks as they are today, it is helpful to understand how their ancestors were in the distant past - where they came from, so to speak. The ancestry of modern sharks is an epic tale, as full of mystery and intrigue as any first date. 

How Big was Megalodon?

Comparing the largest known White Shark teeth with those of Megalodon seems a natural way to figure out how large the fossil species was. Ichthyologist John E. Randall was the first to point out that in the White Shark, the largest upper teeth (second anteriors) are about as tall as the jaw that contains them is high. The early Megalodon reconstructions, however, featured jaws about three times too high in proportion to the teeth. Randall also suggested that there is a more-or-less direct linear correlation between a White Shark's tooth enamel height and its total length. When Randall plotted a graph of tooth enamel height for white sharks of known length and the enamel height for the largest-known megalodon teeth, the position of the latter correlated to a total length of about 43 feet (13 metres). How could the museum curators have been so far off in their estimated size of Megalodon? Apparently, the original reconstructions relied on fossil teeth collected from several sites (thus representing several individuals), but they were all about the same size. However, in all extant lamnoids - including the White Shark - posterior teeth (those toward the corners of the jaws) are much smaller than anterior teeth (near the symphysis, or center, of the jaws). As a result of Randall's work, early reconstructions of Megalodon are now known to be at least a third too large.

Location : Morocco
Age : Cretaceous
(16 to 1.6 million years ago.)