X - XL X-Tinct Megalodon
✩ Okay, I cheated a little bit. The Megalodon may be extinct, but mermaids have been around for a long time, so I’ve still got some facts 😉 - The word Megalodon comes from Greek, meaning “giant tooth” - The Megalodon were the largest fish that ever lived! The largest individuals were estimated to be around 60 feet!! That’s about x3 as big as the largest sharks we have today! - Megalodons came around 43 million years after the dinosaurs!! - The youngest fossil remains found are from about 2.6 million years ago. It’s not fully known why the species died off, though some hypotheses are on oceanic cooling, and new competition from other sharks and whales - Fossil remains of the Megalodon have been found off the coast of every continent, except Antarctica! - There are no full Megalodon skeletons discovered like dinosaurs, because sharks don’t have bones! They only have cartilage, which doesn’t fossilise easily. Most of what’s known about the Megalodon comes from teeth that have been found - the largest ever found was 7 inches long!! And their mouths were almost 10ft wide! That’s one powerful bite!!! (Thought to be more powerful that a T-Rex bite)