According to a study published in the Journal of the Royal SocietyBiology Letters, namely the reduction of places,
Otodus megalodon - sometimes classified asMegalodon Carcharocles - took 25 years to become an adult. This is “extremely delayed puberty,” the authors write in the research paper. However, when the shark was fully grown, it could reach 18 m.
Megalodon was the most dangerous predator onthroughout its existence, and even fed on sharks and even whales. This ancient shark simply had no competitors among predators. But his cubs were vulnerable to attacks from other predators, such as other sharp-toothed sharks. Shallow continental shelves with small fish for food, where there were almost no predators, were ideal places for the development of offspring of megalodons.
The research team discovered the areanurseries off the east coast of Spain after visiting a museum and seeing a collection of megalodon teeth. Many of them were very small for such a large animal. Judging by the size of the teeth, they suggested that the site was once home to young megalodons.
According to the authors, a Spanish nursery can beDescribed as "ideal growing place". It would be "a shallow bay with warm waters, connected to the sea, with extensive coral reefs and many invertebrates, fish species, marine mammals and other sharks and rays."
The researchers analyzed eight othersets of shark teeth that were previously collected and distributed in the United States, Peru, Panama and Chile. They concluded that four of them - two in the US and two in Panama - belonged to younger sharks. As a result, the authors speculate that these four regions could also be nurseries for megalodons. It is worth noting that sharks are constantly losing teeth throughout their lives.
Megalodons were comfortable in warm and temperatewaters of the Miocene period, which lasted from 5 to 23 million years ago. But the cooler Pliocene period was fatal for sharks, the authors conclude. The significant reduction in shallow water nurseries due to the loss of sea level caused by the cooler climate may have contributed to the eventual extinction of the megalodon.
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