Reptiles Tortoises

Thursday, May 29, 2008

What Types of Sharks Lived Millions of Years Ago?

The first cartilaginous sharks appeared 370 millions years ago. Their size, their appearance and their fossilized remains tell us an amazing story, the sharks history! What types of sharks lived millions of years ago? Well, here are a few facts about them.

The first interesting fact about prehistoric sharks is that contrary to todays numbers, sharks used to represent 60% of the fish population while now; this percentage has dramatically dropped to 3%.

The size of sharks varied as much as 1 m up to 40 m in length. There were peculiar species of sharks such as flying sharks which escaped larger predators by flying out of the water. Others, like the Megalodon which lived from 5 to 1.6 million years ago, were the largest predator that ever swam in the waters of our planet.

They were so large that their huge teeth which measured as much as 17 cm are mainly the testimony of their existence. The Megalodon was as long as a Greyhound bus and weighted as much as 7 or 8 Tyrannosaurus Rex.

There were also huge differences between males and females. In several species, the male displayed a horn-shaped sexual ornament that was covered with shark teeth. These sharks also proudly show off bright colors.

Some prehistoric sharks were so huge that they would feed on medium size sharks, dolphins and whales. If you put an average size man in the mouth of a Megalodon, it would fit standing up since its jaws were so big.

With sharks as diversified, strange looking and of impressive dimensions, no wonder they made history!

My name is Sylvie Leochko. Sharks are fascinating animals but there is so much more to learn about them beside the various types of sharks, there is also their history. Yes, in fact if you fear the great white shark, terror is too small of a word to describe what you would feel if you came face to face with the Megalodon shark which is the prehistoric ancestor of the great white shark. If your curiosity wants to learn more about this historic fish, I strongly suggest that you follow this link: http://sharks.findoutnow.org/types-of-sharks.html .