Speculations About The Megalodon Shark example essay topic

The Megalodon Kingdom-animalia Phylum-chordata Subphylum-vertebrata Class-Chondrichthyes Subclass-Elasmobranch ii (sharks and rays) Order-Lamniformes Family-Lamnidae Genus-Carcharodon Species-megalodon Intro. I was in front of the TV watching shark week on the discovery channel when they started to talk about this shark that was three times bigger then a great white shark and ate whales for food. I sat there for an hour intrigued by the thought of one of those living today. So when you gave out the reports I knew right away what I wanted to do it on the Megalodon. Megalodon Sharks have been around for along time. They were here before the dinosaurs 350 million years ago.

About 5 million years ago the ocean was ruled by a shark speculated to be the size of a bus. Its not known how big it was or what it looked like because sharks bones are made of cartilage and the only things that remain are their huge teeth. These teeth are as big as six inches long and weight up to twelve ounces. The teeth look like a great whites but four times bigger. Scientist once believed that they were 120 ft in length because of the size of their teeth. Recently, it has been shrunk to 50 to 60 feet.

There is a lot of these teeth which Probably means they had rows of teeth like the great whites five rows of them. Because there is so few fossils there is still a lot of mystery to the megalodon. The Meg ladon shark was first discovered by a French paleontologist Louis Agassiz in 1835. It is not known where the tooth was found.

Now days most of the megalodon teeth are found on the East Coast in Maryland and North and South Carolina and in Florida. Lots of people also collect their teeth and sell them. A 5-inch tooth in good condition goe for about $250. There are many speculations about the megalodon shark what they looked like and what they ate. It will never be known for sure but many experts think that they had a lot in common with the great white because their teeth are so similar. Experts think that the megalodon was also a killer like the great white but ate not just seals, but also ate whales.

Sharks need to eat two percent of their body weight a day, so they didn t have to eat huge amounts of food. There has been evidence in the bones of whales showing teeth marks shaped like megalodon's tooth. Also many paleontologist argue over many of these speculations. Each one has a different theory how they lived. At the Smithsonian museum is the biggest reconstructed megalodon jaw in the world. The jaw is seven feet tall and four feet wide.

It isn t know for sure if the jaw looked like this for sure but it the best they can guess. How They Died It is not certain how all of the megalodon's died but there is a couple theories. One is that the food supply ran out. The most repeated theory is that the megalodon's food was very scarce and that there were so few of them because they were on top of the food chain and died off. The great whites survived during the extinction of the megalodon, and they lived in the same area as megalodons.

They think the smaller size of the great white made it easier for them to Survive, having to eat less. Another theory is that the temperature of the water changed and the whales migrated away leaving megalodons without there main food supply. Some scientist think that the megalodon changed into the the great whites of today. But recently there has been findings disagreeing with these scientist The Fear With the movie Jaws and all the talk about shark attacks sharks have gotten a bad wrap. The thought of a megalodon in the water would sure keep me out of the ocean. The thought of being eaten in one gulp is scary.

Also you would have to have a pretty big boat to feel safe in the water. If a megalodon can eat a whale it wouldn t be to hard for it to capsize a 30 ft boat. So I m quite glad that the megalodon shark isn t around any more because the ocean wouldn t be as fun as it is now.