During the early Cenozoic, which was approximately 60 million years ago, was when the biggest and most ruthless shark came to be, the Megalodon. The Megalodon was the biggest predator that lived in the sea, it was 20 meters long and weighed over 30 tons. This remarkable creature had 7 inch teeth and had the ability to eat whales with its ginormous size, (Sharkopedia, Undated). In fact people used to believe that their teeth were dragon tongues. Another large shark in the Cenozoic Era was
Figure 4: A comparison of the size of a Tyrannosaurus to the Megalodon, (Sharkopedia, Undated) the Otodus ,which grew to 15 meters long and also was a main predator, (Shark Evolution, 2016). Now in the modern Cenozoic there are over 440 species of sharks, most of them were developed in the early Cenozoic Era. However, scientists are always finding new unique shark species that have different evolutionary traits.
Diversification and Biogeographic Distribution of Sharks:
There are over 440 different species of sharks, making it a very diverse group of animals. Among the shark species there are 8 main subspecies, these include Hexanchiforms, Squaliforms, Pristiophoriforms, Squatiniforms, Heteridontiforms, Orectolobiforms, Carcharchinforms, and Lamniforms, (Shark Facts and Information, Undated) …show more content…
Another subspecies that is very different from the Lamniforms, are the Squalifroms. This group of sharks is a diverse group containing both big and small sharks that live in a range of different depths of the ocean, (Meyer, 2013). Most Squalifroms are bioluminescent, meaning they have the ability to