| P number: | P549488 |
|---|---|
| Caption: | Carcharocles (sometimes called Carcharodon) a Neogene shark. |
| Description: | Carcharocles (sometimes called Carcharodon) was a great white shark that grew to the size of a small whale. It lived in Europe during Neogene times (about 2 to 24 million years ago). It is known mainly from its large teeth, which are often found as fossils. The Roman scientist Pliny the Elder (who lived between 23 and 79 AD) called them 'tongue stones'. It was thought that they had medicinal properties against rheumatism and snake venom. Carcharocles had several rows of teeth which were continually growing so that when one fell out, the other teeth moved around its jaw to fill the gap. The sharp pointed teeth, which also bore small saw-like teeth along the edges, were ideal for slicing through the flesh of its unfortunate prey. The rest of the fish is not often found as a fossil beacause its cartilaginous skeleton usually decayed rapidly after death. Fish are cold-blooded vertebrates with a braincase, fins for swimming and gills to take oxygen from the water (although some also have lungs). They therefore differ from other aquatic creatures like invertebrate molluscs or crabs; amphibians and reptiles, which have lungs and limbs rather than gills and fins; and whales and dolphins which are warm-blooded mammals. Fish are the first vertebrates, having evolved during the early Cambrian over 500 million years ago. |
| Photographer: | Unknown |
| Copyright statement: | NERC |
| Orientation: | Portrait |
| Size: | 486.73 KB; 786 x 1000 pixels; 67 x 85 mm (print at 300 DPI); 208 x 265 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Average Rating: | Not yet rated |
| Categories: | Best of BGS Images/ Fossils |
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