Fish · GBIF taxon 9413495
Megalodon
Carcharias megalodonAlso known as Megatooth Shark, Giant White Shark
Megalodon was an apex marine predator that dominated warm and temperate oceans worldwide during the Neogene. Equipped with massive, finely serrated triangular teeth that reached over eighteen centimeters in slant height, it possessed one of the most powerful bite forces in evolutionary history. Regional cooling trends and drops in sea levels during the Pliocene restricted its preferred coastal nursery areas and fragmented baleen whale populations, contributing to its extinction.
CarnivoreMarine
Licensed referenceJJonahJackalope / CC BY-SA 4.0 · cc-by-sa
—observations
—countries
—peak records
ExtinctConservation statusIUCN Red List categoriesLCNTVUENCREWEXExtinctRed List categories, explained →
Diet & prey
- Piscobalaena nana
- Metaxytherium floridanum
- Cetotherium rathkii
ThreatsOcean cooling, sea level changes, and competition with emerging raptorial cetaceans
HabitatsWarm-temperate, subtropical, and tropical coastal and open marine waters
Life spanEstimated 80 to 100 years
Classification
- FamilyLamnidae
- SpeciesCarcharias megalodon
Range data is not available yet.
Interaction riskLow
- Low
- Moderate
- High
- Very high
- Why interaction risk is low
- Extinct species known exclusively from fossil remains; perfectly safe to study.
Responsible observation
- Fossil Identification: Look for large, robust triangular teeth with dense serrations and a dark chevron-shaped bourlette.
- Museum Exhibits: Visit natural history collections to view reconstructed jaws built from fossil teeth.
Ancestor Jayson Kowinsky / CC BY 3.0 · cc-by
Competitor "Great White Shark" by Elias Levy is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/. · cc-by
Image unavailableCompetitor 
Order Relative rossbeane / CC BY-SA 2.0 · CC BY-SA 2.0
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