3.32" Megalodon Tooth, North Carolina

Description

• Species: Otodus megalodon
• Age: Miocene – Pliocene (~23-3.6 Million Years)
  
• Location: North Carolina
  

This is a serrated fossil megalodon tooth, measuring 3.32 inches in length, discovered off the coast of North Carolina. It likely belonged to a prehistoric mega-shark, approximately in the 25 foot size range.

About Megalodon

Otodus megalodon, commonly known as megalodon, was a massive prehistoric shark and one of the most powerful marine predators in Earth's history. This species, part of the extinct family Otodontidae, appeared around 23 million years ago during the early Miocene epoch and went extinct about 3.6 million years ago in the late Pliocene epoch, thriving during a time of warm, biodiverse oceans. Fossil evidence, mostly consisting of large teeth and vertebrae, shows that megalodon could reach lengths of up to 18 meters (60 feet), roughly three times the size of a modern great white shark. Its strong jaws, with about 276 serrated teeth arranged in multiple rows, allowed for constant tooth replacement and enabled it to hunt large marine mammals like whales with devastating efficiency.