The megalodon, which translates into "great tooth", was the largest predatory shark ever to swim the seas. With teeth ranging up to 7 inches, it was massive. Meg fed on whales,(fossilized whale vetabrae have been found with meg teeth still embeded in them, and others that bore the scars) and other larger marine life. He is speculated to have reached a weight of 52 tons. He was an awesome shark who would've had few to no predators once reaching adulthood. Meg is popularly thought to have died out around 1,000,000 years ago. However, teeth found in the Pacific are speculated at being as recent as 10,000 years old. Meg had outlived the dinosaurs, and survived one ice-age before becoming extinct. However, it is safe to say the meg is no more due to the fact no fresh, white teeth/roots have been found. And a population of meg, all shedding teeth, at least one tooth would have been found by now. So what killed the meg? No one has yet come up with a definitive answer. However, it is speculated at being several occurances, coinciding, that finally killed off this super-predator. Colder ocean temperatures kept the meg from following it's prey(such as whales) into the cold seas. Land was forming up from its breeding grounds. Their offspring were much more vulnerable. In deeper waters they would've been preyed upon too rapidly without the safety of the shallows. And being a large predatory creature, they were slow to reproduce, and would've only spawned a small number in a lifetime. They were unable to sustain a population. This also resulted in fewer and fewer megs even able to find a mate. And eventually the species died out.
How big can a megalodon get? We really don't know for sure, but we know they're the biggest toothed shark ever. Why do I say this? Let me tell you. Originally, meg was thought to reach upwards of 120 feet. Now it is thought really to only reach around 50 feet.
*When meg's jaw was first constructed, the scientists at the American Museum of Natural History made the jaws about 1/3 too large by using all large teeth in the model.
*1985 Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History re-created the jaw using a full set of varied teeth. This jaw put the meg at 43 feet.
*Dr. Leonard Compagno (curator of Calvert Marine Museum and renowned shark expert) had come up with a new set of calculations. His calculations would put meg's maxium size at 52 feet in length.
Carcharodon vs. Carcharocles
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