A discovered misshapen tooth that belonged to this dreaded shark shows that even this giant predator had to watch out for some fish.

You might think that the mighty megalodon had nothing and no one to fear. This prehistoric shark ruled the oceans millions of years ago and probably terrified many sea creatures. Yet it appears from a new study that there were fish that the fearsome shark had to watch out for. And if he didn’t, it may have resulted in him going through life with an annoying toothache.

deformed tooth

In a new study, researchers have pored over a strikingly misshapen tooth of the extinct shark. The tooth appears to be split. However, the question is how this happened. Is the deformity the result of a developmental disorder, or did the shark accidentally sink its teeth into something wrong? “We don’t have a lot of data on split teeth in ancient shark species,” said researcher Harrison Miller. “So this was an opportunity to fill those gaps and maybe learn more about the sharks in the process.”

Did you know…

†the megalodon ruled almost all the seas? Mega shark teeth have been found almost all over the world. Also in the Netherlands, which in the time of the megalodon was almost completely under water and was a nice home port for megalodons and several other large sharks.

The researchers studied three misshapen teeth. The largest – a tooth of at least 10 centimeters – belonged to the dreaded megalodon. The other two teeth had once been part of the teeth of the much smaller bull shark: a shark that lived during the same period as Megalodon and, incidentally, still roams the seas.

Both normal and misshapen teeth of a megalodon and a bull shark. Image: Matthew Zeher

All three oddly shaped teeth are split. The team then compared the teeth to normal teeth from both species and took a look inside using advanced imaging techniques.

stingray

What caused the mighty megalodon’s toothache? The researchers suspect that the ill-fated shark simply picked the wrong lunch. “In modern sharks, tooth deformities can occur if something sharp pierces their mouths,” explains researcher Haviv Avrahami. “We therefore believe that the injury was most likely caused by the megalodon chewing on a spiny fish or being the victim of a nasty stingray sting.”


Possible cause of a megalodon’s split tooth.

breeding area

That’s not even far-fetched, by the way. “We know that the megalodon’s breeding area was around Panama,” Miller added. “And here were also relatives of modern stingrays. The split tooth could indicate that megalodon was a generalist predator. The shark in question with a toothache may have just been having a bad day.”

Speculation

While this explanation is plausible, it remains speculation for the time being. The chance is small that researchers will determine a definitive cause. “Sharks don’t have bony, but cartilaginous skeletons,” Avrahami says. “As a result, their jaws are often not preserved. In addition, we only find separate, loosely swinging teeth. Finally, sharks regularly replace their teeth. This means you can’t see what’s happening in the rest of the jaw.”

Despite that, the researchers suspect that the split tooth was caused by a megalodon targeting the wrong fish. And that shows that even this gigantic predator couldn’t run its course undisturbed. “When we think of predator-prey encounters, we tend to feel more sympathetic to the prey,” said researcher Lindsay Zanno. “But the life of a predator, even a gigantic megalodon, was not always a bed of roses.”