The largest carnivorous marine animal that ever existed was in prehistoric times the megalodon monster - a direct relative of the current great white shark.
It is believed that the megalodon became extinct more than two million years ago, when the cooling of the climate and the shelf seas came to the Pliocene, with glaciers covered with the usual food for the megalodon. Traces of these huge ancient animals were found in the rocks of India, North Africa, Australia, Japan, Belgium and many other countries.
The teeth are most often found from the skeleton of a prehistoric monster: the height of the diagonal of one tooth of this monster reached 18 cm — none of the creatures living in the ocean had any teeth of that size.
But what is strange is that archaeologists began to discover the relatively young remains of the megalodon - their age is 10 thousand - 8 thousand years ago. Moreover, messages began to arrive from experienced crews of various sea vessels, who saw a yellowish back with a characteristic fin in the huge waves. Could this mean that ... megalodone is alive?
Yes, for example, the sailors could be wrong, confusing the silhouette of an ancient monster with the silhouette of a whale shark. However, how can you explain the fact that the silhouette observed by the “Christina” team reached 35-37 meters in length? Even reducing this figure in two - whale sharks of this size do not exist. But what could it be for a creature?
The world sensation was that, in 1954, in the bottom of the ship "Rachel Cohen", which fell in the dry dock of Adelaide for repairs, found 17 huge teeth stuck in wood. The width of each cutter reached 8 cm, length up to 10 cm. It should be noted that even a large white shark has a tooth size not exceeding 6 cm.
The teeth stuck in the bottom were located in a semicircle - a bite characteristic of sharks, near a curved screw, while the diameter of the semicircle reached 2 m. Later, with the help of an analysis, it was determined that the teeth actually belong to the megalodon. Does this mean giant monsters are somewhere nearby?
Relatively not long ago, the teeth of megalodons began to be found on the Baltic beaches - Otradnoye, Pionersk and Svetlogorsk. For 4 years, found about 800 huge teeth belonging once ancient fish.
Along the coast of Tahiti, a research ship with a bottom grabber found megalodon's not yet hardened teeth, their age is no more than 11 thousand years. From a geological point of view, animals whose signs of presence have not been detected for more than 400 thousand years are considered extinct.
And here only - 11 thousand years! Here is a house shark, which, by the way, was considered extinct in the Pliocene. Her teeth were not, the silhouettes were not met, because they deservedly added to the list of prehistoric fish. And then, unexpectedly, they discovered the brownie shark itself, not even its young remains, but the very pretty living specimen itself. And not even one. The living relic dwelt at great depths. Perhaps the megalodon also floats somewhere nearby?
If you make an assumption where the prehistoric carnivorous monster could survive the unfavorable conditions throughout this time, then paleontologists believe that this is the fourth pole of the planet.
Only two people sank to the bottom of the Mariana Gorge. And they did not see anything there, only deep-sea invertebrates. After that, studies of the trough began with ocean sensors and sonars. They were able to record at the bottom of the movement of the massive bodies of unknown animals. Many scientists are inclined to believe that surviving representatives of the Carcharodon megalodon are quite capable of dwelling at a great depth.
Moreover, the bottom of the gorge is covered with the teeth of the megalodon. Paleontologists are confident that the ancient monster, like other prehistoric animals, could wait out the unfavorable time here, at the fourth pole of the planet, where active hydrothermal springs are beating. The Mariana Trench is a pretty good place.
It turns out that the rumors that somewhere observed a giant shark may be true? Perhaps the monster was leaving his refuge to make sure that the world above was already suitable for existence?
And if so, then very soon, when global warming will lead to the warming of the world's oceans, we can again see the lord of the saline waters - the giant shark Carcharodon megalodon.
As for the Mariana Trench, according to some ichthyologists, because of the presence of active hydrothermal springs, colonies of prehistoric marine animals that have survived to the present day can exist at its bottom.
There is evidence that in 1918, lobster catchers from the Australian city of Port Stephens saw a surprisingly transparent white fish 35 in the sea? meters long. It was clear that this fish had risen from great depths. Many of the researchers believe that the last surviving representatives of the huge prehistoric shark of the species Carcharodon megalodon are hidden in the Mariana Trench, in its unexplored depths. Based on the few surviving remains, the researchers were able to restore what the megalodon looked like.
This prehistoric fish lived in the seas 2-2.5 million years ago and was gigantic in size: its length is about 24 meters, its weight is 100 tons, and its width is studded with 10? the centimeter teeth of the mouth reached 1.8–2.0 meters.
Not so long ago, when exploring the Pacific Ocean, oceanologists managed to find well-preserved teeth of the megalodon. The age of one of the finds is 24,000 years, and the other is even younger - 11,000 years! Could this mean that not all megalodons became extinct 2 million years ago?
During one of the dives in the Mariana Trench region, the German research apparatus “Hayfish” with people on board, being at a depth of 7 kilometers, suddenly “refused” to emerge. Trying to understand the reason for this, the crew turned on the infrared camera. What they saw at first seemed to them a group hallucination: a huge creature resembling a prehistoric lizard, the creature grabbed its teeth into the body of the bathyscaphe, trying to crack it like a nut ... Having regained consciousness, the hydronauts set in motion a device called an “electric gun”. From the blow of a powerful discharge, the monster opened its eerie jaws and disappeared into the darkness of the abyss ...
With a sensation, the immersion into the depths of the Mariana Trench of the American unmanned bathyscaphe platform ended. Equipped with powerful searchlights, highly sensitive sensors and television cameras, it was lowered into the ocean depths using a steel net woven from 20 mm thick cables. After reaching the bottom of the bathyscaphe, the cameras and microphones for several hours did not register anything interesting. And then, suddenly, on the screens of television monitors in the light of searchlights, silhouettes of mysterious huge bodies began to flash. When the device was hastily lifted to the surface, some of its structures were bent.
2004 - The English magazine New Scientist spoke in detail about the mysterious sounds in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, which detected the underwater sensors of the American tracking system SOSUS. It was created in the years of the "cold war" to observe the Soviet submarines. Specialists who studied the recordings of signals from highly sensitive hydrophones, identified a much more powerful sound, clearly made by some creature in the ocean, against the background of noises, which are the call signs of different sea creatures.
This mysterious signal, first recorded in 1977, is much more powerful than the infrasound, with which large whales communicate with each other at a distance of hundreds of kilometers from each other.
“Interesting newspaper”
The giant shark Megalodon lived in the world ocean for 26.5 million years. According to research scientists, the world's largest shark megalodon had a large size of 20-30 m. The shark megalodon fed on whales, dolphins, sperm whales, she could eat them with ease. Daubs stood on top of the food chain. The giant size of the body and large sharp teeth, scientists often found in the ocean. This indicated a broad settlement of the world's largest sharks. His remains were found triangular in shape and looked like the remains of an ordinary shark. The difference is only in size. The shark's tooth is about 6 cm, while the shark has a megalodon; a large tooth is 10-17 cm. By the size of these teeth, the scientists reconstructed the megalodon look and its approximate dimensions. The largest predators were megalodon females. At the very beginning, scientists reconstructed the jaw of a predator, then its torso. The white shark is considered the most similar to megalodons. Only megalodons were distinguished by wider bones and large dimensions.
The biggest shark in the world
The wide skull and large jaws, the short snout-outwardly megalodon looked like a свин ’pig’ ’of a gigantic size. Many scientists believe that such a predator can still inhabit the depths of the world's oceans. On the ship ’Rachel Cohen’ ’, teeth found on the bottom of the ship were found; they could belong to the megalodon. Also the remains of a predator were found by paleontologists and ichthyologists. They have not had time to petrify completely, as scientists note. Since the world's oceans are only 10% explored, it can be assumed that sharks megalodon can dwell somewhere in the depths. The impressive size of the largest fish does not allow him to approach the coast of the ocean. This shark can live only at great depths in the ocean. Oxygen is supplied to the gills, so they can feel good in deep water. Many scientists do not exclude the possibility that megalodons can still exist in the world's oceans. The skeleton of the world's largest shark consisted of cartilage, not bone. The complete skeleton of the fish was not found, only separate vertebrae were found. His teeth are so large that for a long time they were mistaken for the bones of large snakes or dragons. Most of all, according to research scientists, the skeleton of the megalodon is similar to the white shark. The body weight of the predator could reach up to 47 tons.
Super Predator Shark Megalodon
The discovered remains of large fish can be judged on his habits. The largest shark, the megalodon, belongs to the superhis, it could eat any animal, mostly large fish, mammals. Among the remains of animals were bones with traces of megalodon bites. Researchers had no difficulty recognizing its traces, because the shark is of enormous size. The characteristic scratches that were left by the sharp ends of the teeth on the extraction could be identified immediately. Scientists have discovered the remains of large whales, in which megalodon's teeth are stuck. Judging by the bones of animals, scientists have determined that the predator rammed the prey, broke bones, damaged organs in its prey. Then the predator easily devoured its prey. Thus, the way of shark hunting showed that he ate only large fish in the ocean. Scientists put forward several versions of the possible causes of the extinction of the shark Megalodon. Low ocean temperatures are one of the causes of fish extinction. The second reason for their extinction could be - hunger. Basically, the lack of food, cooling water played a big role in the extinction of the giant shark, scientists believe.
Is the megalodon alive?
The largest shark megalodon is the subject of discussion and controversy among many scientists that the shark can still live in the deep corners of the ocean. Many people claim to have seen a shark, make films and publish photos. But at the same time there is not a single scientific confirmation of the fact of the existence of the megalodon. Officially, the predator is considered extinct. Paleontological analyzes show that the shark is considered one of the largest predatory fish in the world. The number of teeth megalodon, there were about 276, they were located in 5 rows. The strong teeth of the predator were jagged. The megalodon shark had no enemies in the ocean water, except for the large whales, they could hunt them in packs. These killer whales mainly hunted juvenile megalodon. In 2013, a publication about a video appeared in the media; it was filmed by the Japanese in the Mariana Trench region, at great depth. The video showed a giant shark, which the authors represented as a giant megalodon shark. Many people claim that they also saw the largest shark in the world ocean. The question of the existence of a giant fish still remains an unresolved mystery, he did not find scientific evidence.
Oddly enough, the most famous prehistoric shark is still covered with a veil of secrecy. After all, it is known mainly for the teeth and a small number of vertebrae. Latin species name comes from a pair of ancient Greek words "big tooth". The reason is simple: the teeth of the fish differed in gigantic sizes, however, like herself. It can be called one of the largest and most dangerous marine predators of all time.
Business card
Time and place of existence
There were megalodons from the end of the Oligocene to the beginning of the Pleistocene, about 28.1 - 1.5 million years ago (from the Rupel to the beginning of the Calabrian stage). They were very widespread: remnants are found on almost all continents, with the exception of Antarctica. Fossilized teeth were also found at a considerable distance from the land, for example, in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
A rich picture of the Italian paleo-painter Alberto Gennari: the megalodon starts eating the whale. Nearby restless gulls are circling, and in the depth smaller sharks are gathered, ready to snatch a piece at any opportunity.
Types and history of detection
The shark belongs to either the genus Carcharodon (in this case, the Latin name of the species Carcharodon megalodon), or to the genus Carcharocles (in this case, the name Carcharocles megalodon). Currently there is no certainty in this matter due to the lack of sufficient material.
In the dynamic picture of the Canadian artist Andrew Domachowski, the megalodon with an open mouth literally bursts into a living cluster.
By all indications, fossil remains of the megalodon and other prehistoric sharks have been found since primitive times. However, the first reasonably clear references in the literature relate to the Renaissance: the discoveries of huge triangular teeth extracted from rocks are described.
Naturally, in those times, mythical and even mystical properties were easily attributed to these impressive artifacts. It was said that this is real evidence of the existence of horrible dragons and giant snakes - their petrified tongues. There was even a common name - glosopetra (Latin word glossopetrae comes from the ancient Greek phrase "stone tongues").
However, even then there were scientists who are well acquainted with the anatomy of sharks. In 1667, Danish anatomist and geologist Niels Stensen publishes the work "Elementorum myologiæ specimen, sei musculi descriptio geometrica: cui accedunt Canis Carchari dissectum caput, et dissectus piscis ex Canum genere", in which she notices the unusual similarity of the glossopether with the teeth of a large shark caught near the port city of Livorno (Italy) a year earlier.
His famous illustration from the treatise is presented, where we see the supposed head of the megalodon at the base of the teeth. She now appears in many books on the history of paleontology as one of the first paleontological discoveries.
However, the scientific description was Megalodon only two hundred years later. In 1835, the Swiss naturalist Jean-Louis Agassis, using the knowledge of sharks accumulated by the 19th century, appropriated to the owner of huge fossil teeth the name Carcharodon megalodon. This happens within the scope of the book. "Recherches Sur Les Poissons Fossiles"which was fully completed in 1843.
Turkish illustrator Kerem Beyit shows us an attack on a flock of sperm whales from the depths.
At the beginning of the article we explained the specific name of the megalodon. The Latin name of the genus, Carcharodon, comes from a pair of ancient Greek words "jagged tooth". Since then, in different parts of the world a huge amount of fossilized megalodon teeth of various sizes has been found. Some of them were deposited in museums, and the other is in private collections.
Body structure
The length of the body of the megalodon reached 16 meters. Height is up to 4.5 meters. He weighed up to 47,690 kilograms. It is the largest representative of the order of the lamniform and one of the largest sharks in the history of our planet.
Comparing an animal with a white shark and a diver from BBC artists.
And finally, a comparison of the megalodon with the average bus from the documentary "Prehistoric Predators: Monster Shark", produced by National Geographic.
Unfortunately, the megalodon is known only by numerous teeth, as well as spinal fragments. This is directly related to the fact that the shark's skeleton does not consist of bones, but of cartilages: the probability of their fossilization is substantially less. Therefore, the full image of an ancient predator remains a mystery. To date, most reconstructions are based on the structure of its possible relative, the white shark.
The megalodon moved, as did the modern species, controlling movement in water through several types of fins. He was able to develop high speed, so necessary for the rapid attack and in the pursuit of prey. The head is equipped with powerful trap-like jaws with several rows of sharp teeth.
Dr. Jeremiah Clifford, specializing in reconstructions of skeletons, stands in the jaws of the megalodon, holding in his hands the jaws of a white shark.
And now quite effective comparison of the megalodon tooth with the teeth of the white shark.
Note also that the length of the largest tooth is about 18.5 centimeters diagonally. He was discovered by paleontologist Peter Larson of the Black Hills Institute for Geological Research. This is the largest tooth in the life of the shark supernova.
We offer you a photograph of the megalodon's record tooth (in the foreground).
Bite force
Recent studies show that the megalodon had an incredible bite force - up to 108514 N. It seems that it was necessary to inflict effective damage while hunting large animals.Other aspects
The body of the Cenozoic super predator was voluminous and drop-shaped. It smoothly passed into the tail, which ended in a rather long heterocercal tail fin. In general, the megalodon was a superbly armed shark of enormous physical strength. The photo shows an exhibit of the species Carcharodon megalodon from the Calvert Maritime Museum (Solomons settlement, Maryland, USA). Reconstructed on the basis of the white shark taking into account the available fossils.
Below are the spectacular jaws in the beautiful interior of the American Museum of Natural History (New York, New York, USA).
Nutrition and Lifestyle
Megalodon lived in the seas almost all over the world, but preferred a warm environment. Apparently, the predator used models of behavior that are quite similar to modern white sharks. However, there were significant differences dictated by a unique body structure and enormous size. Megalodon was a pronounced solitary predator, although it could tolerate other individuals in close proximity to itself. In cases of attacks on very large whales, the collective attack was mutually beneficial.In contrast to the modern relative, the adult megalodon had almost no restrictions on the spectrum of potential targets. Megalodon could attack alone on flocks of small fish and very large whales. This made it possible to become a real thunderstorm of the oceans, a marine likeness of a tyrannosaur. Super Predator for a fairly long chronological interval. At the same time, the attack strategies for each type of animals in the megalodon were different, which is also observed in sharks of our days.
Unusual illustration of the English pale artist Robert Nichols. The herd of anancus (Anancus) was carried into the sea by a tsunami that suddenly came to the calm sea shores. Their dead bodies drifted for a while until the spreading odor attracted the attention of huge ancient sharks. A pair of adult megalodons and one cub took the opportunity, not at all disdaining the taste of decomposition.
And here already live Platybelodon (Platybelodon) is attacked in shallow water. Sometimes young megalodons could hunt in the shelf seas and, moreover, swim very close to the shore. Posted by: Canadian Paleo-painter Julius Chotoni.
Note that the total power of the arsenal is not comparable with counterparts of modern women. Moreover, even the teeth were somewhat stronger than the latter: thicker and wider, with a massive base.
Comparison of the teeth of the megalodon (left) and the great white shark (right) on the same scale from Prehistoric Wildlife.
They were adapted to high loads, appearing in the process of hunting well-protected animals. As the fossils show, the megalodon tried to inflict critical injuries with it, attacking important organs and the motor apparatus. The bite force was so great that even the bones broke. And these were not only multimeter thick-skinned whales (from families of sperm whales and smooth whales to dolphins), but also giant sea turtles.
3D scene of a megalodon attack on a sea turtle from the series "Shark Week: Sharkzilla" released by Discovery Channel.
Other potential victims include smaller cetaceans, and pinnipeds and sirens.
A very large megalodon is chasing a mammal from the order of sirens - the dugong (Dugong).
Otobenocetops (Odobenocetops) and brighter physicians (Brygmophyseter), appearing in documentaries, could theoretically also be targets.
And this is not the full range of marine animals. Since the megalodon has existed for many millions of years, he managed to meet and survive more than one evolutionary generation of marine life. Megalodons were also likely to be eaten by representatives of other sharks. It is also important to say that the diet of very young individuals was significantly different from the diet of adults: the proportion of small fish and mollusks in it was significantly higher.
Video
An excerpt from the documentary "Prehistoric Predators: Monster Shark". Skeletal elements and hunting scenes are shown.
Fragment from the popular television series "Shark Week: Sharkzilla". Megalodon attacks various representatives of the ancient fauna.
An excerpt from the documentary film "Fight Club of the Jurassic Period: Sea Hunters". Attacked party of the flock of ancient brigmfieterov. Note that the size of the latter is greatly overestimated here.
Fragment of the artistic documentary film "Walking with sea monsters." Megalodon observation in native habitat.
Article author: ArgusEye
Literature
Recommended scientific work:- Wroe, S .; Huber, D. R .; Lowry, M .; McHenry, C .; Moreno, K .; Clausen, P .; Ferrara, T. L .; Cunningham, E .; Dean, M. N .; Summers, A. P. (2008). What is a white bite? Journal of Zoology 276 (4): 336–342.
- Agassiz, Louis (1833–1843). Recherches sur les poissons fossiles. Neuchatel: Petitpierre. p. 41
No one can say for sure when sharks appeared on the planet. Now on Earth there are about 14 million species of living organisms, and more than 500 million of them have died out in the entire history of the Earth.
How many of these extinct species were sharks, no one can determine. We can only judge by the few fossil remains that left us species of prehistoric sharks.
The most ancient finds of sharks date from the Silurian period of the Paleozoic era, about 440-410 million years BC.
At that time, there were vast oceans on the site of the present mountains, forests and steppes, so they are found in the Volga region, in the Ukraine, and even in Moscow (Fili region).
The presumed ancestors of sharks could be extinct marine vertebral placoderms. According to one theory, the sharks are descended from marine placoderms, on the other - from freshwater.
Watch videos - Species of ancient sharks:
Findings of ancient shark species
Remains of the Devonian shark of Cladoselache (Cladoselache), who lived 375 million years BC. Oe., were found in the United States, in the lands of Ohio.
Her ancestors were, and she left no descendants. The torpedo-shaped body of an ancient predator was only 2 meters long. On the structure of the fins, it can be assumed that cladocelachia moved more slowly than modern sharks.
At the same time, and a little later, in the Carboniferous period, somewhere up to 320 million years BC. e., lived freshwater xenocant sharks. The most famous of this group is xenacant. He differed from cladocelacids on the back of his head, a powerful weapon of protection.
The descendant of the xenocante is a pleuracant, who lived 250 million years ago, at the end of the Carboniferous (Carboniferous period). In size, they were even smaller than their ancestors, an average of 80 cm. They hunted in large flocks.
Photograph of an ancient shark cladoselachia
Photograph of a Xenacante Fossil Shark
Interesting to modern paleontologist researchers is the tiny xenocante shark bandring (Bandringa), in which the rostrum (snout) had a length of 20 cm, which was exactly half the length of the entire shark. For what nature has so refined over predatory baby, no one will know.
Photo of the prehistoric bandring shark
Even more "young" shark stetakant (Stethacanthus) lived 300 million years ago, the Paleozoic era. There was a very small predator - 1-2 meters long. But the head of this shark was adorned with the dream of all punks - a multitude of sharp spikes turned back. And such spikes on the back were tilted in the opposite direction.
Photo of relic shark stetakant
With the help of these devices, stetacantuses could attach to more massive fishes, like modern ones, and travel, feeding on the remnants of their master's prey that plays the role of transport.
Of the many species of ancient xenacante sharks, only ichthyodorulites remained - spikes on dorsal fins. According to their size (about 90 centimeters), scientists assume that the length of the shark owners of these spurs was about 18 meters.
Mass extinction of ancient predators
The xenacante sharks died out already in the Mesozoic era, in the Triassic period, about 220 million years ago. But even earlier, about 320 million years BC. e. hybodontovye sharks appeared, which had blunt back teeth and sharp front ones. The back teeth ground the shells of mollusks, while the front dexterous predators snapped the prey.
Hybodonts died out completely, but similar to them, which appeared at about the same time, successfully survived to our days.
At the same time lived Helikoprion, whose teeth are twisted into a spiral.
Watch the video - Shark Helikoprion:
Megalodon is the largest shark on Earth in the entire history of its existence. Giant teeth of this shark were discovered by people in ancient times.
They considered them the teeth of huge terrible dragons that had previously inhabited the planet. Already in the 17th century, people had a more realistic attitude toward legends and tales, and some scientists put forward the version that these huge teeth belonged to a shark, which was found in the World Ocean millions of years ago.
This giant predator was called megalodone. This shark lived (judging by the geological deposits in which the teeth were found) presumably 1.5-25 million years ago. The cause of the death of the megalodons was the general cooling that occurred on Earth.
Megalodon belongs to the family of cartilaginous fish, so its skeleton is impossible to detect, because cartilage tissue decomposes faster than bone tissue. Scientists find only single vertebrae and teeth. And on such scant fragments it is difficult to recreate a realistic picture. People have always been distinguished by a rich imagination, therefore, identifying the megalodon with the white shark, they formed an exemplary image of this sea monster. A model of the megalodon is exhibited in the state of Maryland in the Oceanographic Museum of Annapolis.
The megalodon shark is the forerunner of modern sharks. What did the fossil shark look like?
In size, this predatory fish was much larger than the white shark. The length of the megalodon was 30 meters, while it weighed 60 tons.
Some scientists believe that these sharks were more modest in size, they claim that their body length was about 22 meters, and they weighed about 50 tons. But such dimensions are very impressive.
These parameters were calculated based on the length of the teeth corresponding to the length of the body. In this case, the white shark was taken as a sample. Today the prevailing version is that the length of the fossil predator averaged 15-18 meters. If this predator had a large size, then he would have difficulty feeding. That is, these sharks would have eaten all life and would have died themselves.
The average length of a megalodon tooth is 15 centimeters, thickness is 2.5 centimeters, and width is 10 centimeters. For comparison, the dimensions of a white tooth are as follows: length — 5 centimeters, thickness — 0.6 millimeters, width — 2.5 centimeters. Judging by these dimensions, one can imagine how huge this fossil fish was.
What was the lifestyle of the megalodon?
As for the speed with which these sharks swam, scientists do not have accurate data. But many are of the opinion that these giants could reach speeds of 70 kilometers per hour. That is, according to the speed characteristics, the megalodons also had no competitors in the oceans.
This shark was hunted mainly by whales. they managed to survive, because they are better adapted to the cold climate, they can live freely in cold waters. Whales feel comfortable in the oceans of the north and south poles, and this shark is thermophilic, so she could not survive such a cooling.
Other scientists believe that the death of the megalodon is due to the fact that killer whales appeared in the oceans.
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