Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Megalodon shark fossil deposit discovered on Canary Islands - NEWS.com.au

Debarjun Saha | 07:24 |

megalodon

Photo provided by the Spanish Oceanography Institute, or IEO, which has discovered in waters of the Canary Islands fossils of the largest marine predator that ever existed, the megalodon, a shark that grew to be 20m long and became extinct 2 million years ago. EFE Source: Supplied

THE Spanish Oceanography Institute has discovered a large deposit of fossils of the largest marine predator that ever existed, the megalodon, a shark that became extinct two million years ago.

The deposit was found at the foot of an undersea mountain some 2,000 metres deep in waters off the Canary Islands during an ocean research campaign, the IEO said in a communiqué.

Those responsible for the discovery call this ``an event of great scientific significance''.

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These fossils ``show that the biggest marine predator of all time lived, hunted and reproduced in these waters during that era'', a shark that grew to be 20 metres long and weigh 100 tonnes.

For the kind of teeth it possessed, scientists think it fed on large prey like whales, dolphins, seals and other marine mammals, as well as on large fish and turtles.

The discovery was made in October 2012 by the research vessel Angeles Alvarino, but it is only now that the fossils have been linked to the megalodon as well as relatives of modern whales.

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The scale of a human compared to a great white shark (carcharodon carcharius), green, and the megalodon, in red and grey.

The scale of a human compared to a great white shark (carcharodon carcharius), green, and the megalodon, in red and grey.



via Science - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFCrt_emJTfPHRDRR1jXeWGLtOCNg&url=http://www.news.com.au/world-news/megalodon-shark-fossil-deposit-discovered-on-canary-islands/story-fndir2ev-1226709702571




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