New fossil teeth of the White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) from the Early Pliocene of Spain. Implication for its paleoecology in the Mediterranean

Abstract

We report here supplementary fossil evidence from Guardamar del Segura (south-eastern Spain) that the White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias inhabits the Mediterranean since the Early Pliocene. Moreover, new fossils reveal that the body size of this great predator probably exceeded 6.7 m in total length, a rare size in fossil record and never verified for living specimens to date as discussed in regard of material and methods. A review of fossil evidences of the largest sharks in the Western Mediterranean at the Mio-Pliocene seems to display a gradual ecological replacement of the giant fossil Megatooth shark ("M." megalodon) by the modern C. carcharias beyond the dramatic marine environnemental crisis that underlines the Miocene/Pliocene boundary in the Mediterranean. © 2009 Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, Germany.