Miocene Epoch Carcharocles megalodon is an extinct species of shark. This enormous carnivore probably fed on large marine animals, including other sharks, much as its modern relatives do today. The margins of the teeth of C. megalodon have numerous fine serrations that give the tooth a very sharp edge. Like a serrated knife blade, these fossil teeth could easily slice through flesh. Some living sharks, like tiger sharks, bay sharks, and great white sharks , also have serrated teeth.
Sharks are some of the oldest and most successful vertebrates on Earth.
The first sharks appeared in ancient oceans more than 400 million years ago, during the Silurian Period , nearly 200 million years before the dinosaurs. Shark skeletons, then and now, are made of cartilage, which decomposes quickly. Complete shark fossils are extremely rare, and paleontologists rely on fossilized teeth, small dermal scales, and calcified vertebrae to piece together the evolutionary record of sharks. In This Region Teeth of this extinct species of giant shark have been collected from Miocene-age sandstones in Oceanside, California, and near Ensenada, Mexico.