Otodus

Name: Otodus.
Phonetic: O-toe-dus.
Named By: Louis Agassiz‭ ‬-‭ ‬1843.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Chondrichthyes,‭ ‬Elasmobranchii,‭ ‬Lamniformes.
Species: O.‭ ‬obliquus‭ (‬type‭)‬,‭ ‬O. aksuaticus, O. auriculatus, O. sokolovi, O. angustidens, O. chubutensis, O. megalodon.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Approximately‭ ‬9‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: Worldwide.
Time period: Selandian of the Paleocene through to the Bartonian of the Eocene.
Fossil representation: Teeth and vertebral centra.

       ‬Otodus was bigger than any other carnivorous fish in the sea today,‭ ‬being one and half times bigger than the largest recorded great white shark.‭ ‬This large size however does not mean that Otodus was an apex predator as it would have had to share the seas with other predators such as Basilosaurus,‭ ‬an eighteen metre long predatory whale that looked more like an ancient mosasaur.‭ ‬Still,‭ ‬Otodus would have been able to hold its ground against most other predators and could have taken everything from large fish to smaller mammals.

Further reading
- Recherches Sur Les Poissons Fossiles. Tome III (livr. 15-16). - Imprim�rie de Petitpierre, Neuchatel 157-390. - L. Agassiz - 1843.
- A new elusive otodontid shark (Lamniformes: Otodontidae) from the lower Miocene, and comments on the taxonomy of otodontid genera, including the 'megatoothed' clade. - Historical Biology. 29 (5): 704–714. - K. Shimada, R. E. Chandler, O. L. T. lam, T. Tanaka & D. J. Ward - 2016.

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