Megalodon lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago. The largest of these predators reached lengths up to 60 feet. The only marine animal ever to outweigh the massive megalodon is the blue whale, which is just more than double the size of a megalodon. Experts estimate the humongous shark needed to eat 2,500 pounds of food a day. That’s about 3,300 cans of tuna every day!
Its jaws could open wide enough to swallow two adults standing side by side. The giant shark used its sharp, banana-size teeth to chomp down on whales, dolphins, seals, and probably other sharks.
MEGALODON
"Big Tooth"
HELICOPRION
"Spiral Saw"
Plesiosaur was about 15 feet long, with a wide, flat body and a short tail. It swam by flapping its fins in the water. The nostrils were located far back on the head near the eyes. The neck was long and flexible, and it likely ate by swinging its head from side to side through schools of fish, capturing prey by using his long sharp teeth.
Named after the biblical sea monster, you know it’s going to be big! Able to compete with the megalodon, it has a reputation as one of the ocean’s biggest predators. Living in the same oceans, consuming the same prey as the Megalodon. Livyatan was a hyper-carnivorous whale that ate other whales. It had the largest teeth of any animal, aside from elephants’ tusks.
Livyatan grew up to 57 feet and it's enormous teeth grabbed prey with huge chomps. Aided by its massive 10-foot-long skull that helped to capture and trap food inside. With its echolocating abilities, other marine life didn’t stand much chance, even in the murkiest depths of the ocean.
Mosasaurus is a large aquatic carnivorous lizard from the Late Cretaceous about 85-66 million years ago. Mosasaurs could grow to 56 feet long ,and were the most dominant predator who lived across the world's oceans. Large mosasaurs would have likely eaten almost any kind of prey they were able to catch, including fish, sharks, sea birds and even other mosasaurs. Mosasaurus got it's name because it's fossils were first discovered near the Meuse River in the Netherlands.
Back in the Jurassic Era, our oceans were teeming with all sorts of reptiles and marine life that were both amazing and terrifying. Although we tend to think of land-dwelling dinosaurs during this period; oceans, rivers, lakes and seas also had their fair share of spectacular marine-based creatures.
From sharks as big as buses to carnivorous whales, these enormous predators made pre-historic oceans a truly dangerous place to venture in. Here, we’ll take a look at some of the most amazing extinct creatures that once roamed the world’s oceans.
A huge fish that could grow up to the size of bus (30 feet long!), the Dunkleosteus has been compared to an armoured tank. Instead of teeth, it ate its food using bony ridges and a bite force of 8,000 pounds per square inch. Evidence suggests that its jaw muscles were so powerful, it could have opened its mouth in one-fiftieth of a second, vacuuming food inside! Also, because these ridges were so sharp, they had no problem biting through the bony bodies of other armoured fish.
Scientists have had to guess what the entire creature looked like, because only the armoured skulls of the Dunkleosteus are left as fossils. Dunkleosteus was named in honour of David Dunkle, who ran the Natural History Museum in
At 15 feet long, with a lower jaw made of a spiral of serrated teeth, the Helicoprion seems like a cross between a shark and a chainsaw. Though researchers aren’t entirely certain about the structure of this unique-looking shark. It’s generally accepted that when it consumed prey, the jaw closed. Then, unbelievably, the teeth rotated backwards in a sawing motion.
DUNKLEOSTUS
"Dunkle's-bone"
LIVYATAN MELVILLEI
"The Killer Sperm Whale"
PLESIOSAUR
"Near-to Lizard'"
MOSASAURUS
"Lizard of the Meuse River"