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(Credit: Niels Stensen)
A 10-million-year-old nursery for the extinct megalodon shark has just been found in Panama, according to University of Florida researchers who report their findings in the latest issue of the journal PLoS ONE.
Megalodon, aka "Big Tooth," is thought to have been the world's largest fish and shark. It grew to around 67 feet in length and looked like a heftier great white shark.“The study provides evidence of megalodon behavior in the fossil record,” said lead author Catalina Pimiento, who just completed a master’s degree in zoology from UF and worked in the Florida Museum of Natural History’s vertebrate paleontology division.
“Behavior doesn’t fossilize, but we were able to interpret ancient protection strategies used by extinct sharks based on the fossil record.”
Prior suggested fossil shark paleo-nursery areas, the Paleocene Williamsburg Formation and late Oligocene Chandler Bridge Formation of South Carolina, were based only on the anecdotal presence of juvenile teeth accompanied by marine mammals.
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