Fossilized Megalodon Tooth with Barnacles, 5.7"

Miocene to Pliocene, Atlantic coastal plain, South Carolina, USA. A formidable fossilized tooth from Otodus megalodon, the largest macropredatory shark ever to patrol the seas. The broad triangular blade tapers from a heavy, chevron-shaped root, its enamel graded from honey and ochre at the tip to deep slate along the bourlette, with fine serrations still legible along both cutting edges. Clusters of pale, ribbed barnacle shells cling to the root and lingual face, evidence of long repose on the sea floor before burial, where filter-feeding encrusters colonized the shed crown as they would any hard substrate. Megalodon replaced its teeth continuously, shedding thousands across a lifetime, and specimens of this scale come from the upper jaw of a mature animal. Presented on a custom display stand. Otodus megalodon cruised the world's warm shelf seas from roughly 23 to 3.6 million years ago, with body-length estimates for the largest individuals reaching 15 to 18 meters. Because cartilaginous skeletons rarely fossilize, the species is known almost entirely from its teeth and vertebral centra, making dentition the standard by which size, age, and geographic range are reconstructed. The barnacle encrustation here is a secondary chapter in the object's biography: it records the tooth resting exposed on the seabed long enough to serve as a settlement surface for sessile invertebrates, a taphonomic history that collectors prize precisely because it is so seldom preserved intact through recovery. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 204937

Estimate:£261.63

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