2.3" Quality Megalodon Shark Tooth Serrated Fossil Natural Miocene Age COA

Location: South Carolina, United States

Weight: 1 Ounce 

Dimensions: 2.3 Inches Long, 2.1 Inches Wide, 0.5 Inches Thick 

Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

The item pictured is the one you will receive.

Early Miocene to Pliocene, 5-23 million years old

• Scientific Name: Otodus megalodon (previously Carcharodon or Carcharocles megalodon)

• Meaning: “Big tooth,” a reference to its enormous serrated teeth that can reach up to 18 centimeters long. These teeth provide key evidence of Megalodon’s size, diet, and hunting capabilities.

• Time Period: Existed approximately 23 to 5 million years ago, spanning the Early Miocene to the end of the Pliocene, dominating the world’s oceans for over 13 million years.

• Size: Estimated at 15–18 meters in length, nearly three times the size of the largest modern great white shark, making it one of the largest fish to ever exist.

• Body and Jaws: Megalodon had an enormous, powerful jaw, capable of exerting pressures strong enough to crush whale bones, with hundreds of serrated teeth perfectly adapted for slicing through flesh. Its robust body allowed it to swim across vast ocean ranges.

• Diet: Apex predators feed primarily on whales, large fish, and marine mammals. Fossil evidence of bite marks shows it was capable of targeting even the largest marine animals of its time.

• Habitat: Inhabited warm, coastal waters, open oceans, and continental shelf regions. Fossil distribution suggests it had a global range, from tropical to subtropical seas.

• Family and Evolution: Once thought to belong to the Lamnidae family, closely related to modern great white sharks, but recent studies place it in the genus Otodus. Its evolutionary adaptations reflect efficient predatory design and a specialization in hunting large prey.

• Extinction: Occurred around 2.6 million years ago, likely due to climate cooling, changing ocean currents, and reduced prey availability.

• Fossil Significance: Megalodon teeth are the most common fossils, but their size and condition make them highly valuable. They allow scientists to estimate body size, feeding behavior, and ocean ecology during the Miocene and Pliocene.

• Scientific and Collectible Importance: As an iconic apex predator, Megalodon provides insight into prehistoric marine ecosystems, predator-prey dynamics, and the evolutionary limits of size in sharks, making its fossils highly prized by paleontologists, collectors, and educators.