Megalodon
The Megalodon or Megatooth shark (Carcharodon megalodon (from ancient Greek, mega + odon, lit. "big tooth") was a giant shark which lived between 5 million and 1.6 million years ago.The Megalodon is known only from fossil teeth, which are in some ways similar to great white shark teeth. Some estimates of this creature's size range up to 50 feet (about 16 metres). Early, much larger reconstructions have been shown to have been in error.
Some recent reports of large shark-like creatures have been interpreted as surviving Megalodons, but such reports are generally considered misidentification of whale sharks or other large creatures. Megalodon teeth have, however, been discovered that date as recently as 10-15,000 years ago -- making the species' extinction a recent event indeed, and making it more conceivable than otherwise that Megaladon might yet survive in the deep ocean.
A supposed surviving population of Megalodon sharks has been the subject of several fictional novels.
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