Otodus (Carcharodon) megalodon (Agassiz, 1843)

Sharktooth Hill, Bakersfield, California
Miocene Period - 15 million years old

Tooth : 3.88 longest blade side
            3.81 short blade side
            3.2 across the root in inches
(1 in. = 2.54 cm.)

The tooth shows minor feeding damage to the tip and some erosion to the front of the root. The lightning pattern on the face of the tooth is beautiful and unique for a Sharktooth Hill tooth. 

This tooth comes from one of the most feared marine predators to have ever existed on Earth, the Megalodon! Thought to have been serpent tongues when first discovered in the middle ages, these shark teeth have been objects of awe and wonder for centuries.

Otodus megalodon (Agassiz, 1843)

Megalodon means "big tooth", from the Ancient Greek: μέγας (megas) “big, mighty” + ὀδόν (odon) “tooth”. C. megalodon is regarded as one of the largest and most powerful predators in history, fossil remains suggest that this giant shark reached a maximum length of 60 ft.

Sharktooth Hill is one of the most famous vertebrate fossil sites in the world - a place where roughly 125 species of sharks, bony fishes, sea mammals, sea turtles, marine crocodiles, birds and even land mammals have been found.

The fossils are concentrated in a rather narrow one-to four-foot thick layer in the Round Mountain Silt Member of the Middle Miocene Temblor Formation, which is exposed over several square miles in the rolling foothills of California's southern Sierra Nevada.

Since it’s discovery in 1853, the Sharktooth Hill area has yielded thousands of shark teeth, including the rare giant shark, Otodus Megalodon!