The researchers acknowledged that there "is little agreement as to the primary cause for O. megalodon’s disappearance," but added that either the lack of food or the "environmental change influenced its extinction. However, one study, which has noted data problems associated with the others, has questioned the validity of fossil teeth dating to the late Pliocene. The megalodon shark belongs to the order of Lamniformes, this includes the best known shark species, including the great white shark.Within this order the megalodon falls into the Otodontidae family, which today is believed to be completely extinct.. How did the megalodon look? Speaking with LiveScience, researcher Michael Griffiths, one of the authors of the paper, said that megalodons may have had body temperatures as high as 95 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. It reports instead that validated fossil data suggests that megalodon died out near the end of the first stage of the Pliocene, the Zanclean Stage (about 3.6 million years ago). ©2020 FOX News Network, LLC. A megalodon is an ancient and extinct species of shark, believed to be the largest predator in the oceans during its reign, which lasted for roughly 20 million years, before these massive sharks went extinct about 3.5 million years ago. . …were descended from the extinct megalodon (. In a new study, researchers analyzed dozens of Megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon) fossils, and now estimate that the ancient shark, the largest to ever live, likely went extinct about 2.6 ⦠Did Megalodon live at the same time as dinosaurs? In the end, the results were clear: It's likely the megalodon was gone by 3.6 million years ago, with margins of error that mean the date could be as ⦠October 22, 2014. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. The megalodon may have been the largest marine predator to ever live, growing up to 60 feet with teeth nearly the size of a standard sheet of paper. But 2.5 million years ago it went extinctâand scientists don't fully understand why. Megalodon (Otodus megalodon), meaning "big tooth", is an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (mya), during the Early Miocene to the Pliocene. Find out more⦠Is the Megalodon still alive? The largest known carnivorous fish to have inhabited the sea is the Carcharodon megalodon.Based on the discovery of huge fossil teeth, scientists believe the megalodon (which means giant tooth) was a huge shark that could have been up to 17m (60 feet) or longer (nearly twice as long as a Great White) . It dominated as an apex predator of the oceans for about 20 million years. One minor problem with shark fossils compared to other fossils is that sharks have no hard bone, outside of the mouth. The megalodon is an extinct species of shark that lived roughly from 28 to 1.5 million years ago, during the Cenozoic Era (late Oligocene to early Pleistocene) Megalodon's teeth were about 7 inches long, and were once described as "tongue stones." These changes may have been related to the closing of the seaways separating North from South America and Eurasia from Africa. The megalodon shark (C. megalodon) is widely regarded as both the largest shark to have ever lived on Earth and one of the largest vertebrate predators in history. . Best Answer. One of the most frightening predators in history, these 60-foot creatures dominated the ocean food chain for more than 20 million years. By comparison, ancestors of modern-day mako and great white sharks had temperatures ranging from 68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. 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