Mega-toothed Shark

Come face-to-face with a 52-foot-long model of a female mega-toothed shark suspended above our new dining area. This extinct fish’s full name is Carcharocles megalodon, but it’s often called simply “megalodon” for its giant teeth.

As the top predator of its day, Carcharocles megalodon devoured small baleen whales, seals, sea turtles, and large fishes in shallow seas around the globe, including here in the Chesapeake Bay region. It may have even swum where the Museum is now, back when much of Washington, D.C. was underwater. Though it went extinct 3.6 million years ago, this massive shark left a lasting mark (and lots of teeth!) in the fossil record.