C. megalodon

C. megalodon

Carcharodon megalodon or Carcharocles megalodon (the taxonomic assignment is disputed) (Megalodon, meaning "big tooth") was a giant shark that lived from Late Oligocene epoch to Early Pleistocene epoch (in Paleogene, Neogene and Quaternary periods) 28-1.5 million years ago.

The known fossils of this shark primarily by teeth and vertebral centra. As with all other sharks, C. megalodon's skeleton was formed of cartilage rather than bone. That is the reason why the fossils of C. megalodon are so poor.

There is stll some better preserved prehistoric shark fossils from Hybodus and Stethacanthus so we know those sharks much better than most others.

The lack of better fossils is why the exact size of C. megalodon is unknown, but it is estimated that it grew up to 15.25 meters (50 feet) long and could have weighed as much as 50 tons (50,000 kg).

C. megalodon was the top predator of its time and it is believed that it ate whales, dolphins, squids, fish, and turtles. It hunted almost everything else that lived in the oceans of its time.