Huge Otodus obliquus Shark Tooth in Matrix
Specimen is approx. 3"
Matrix is approx. 5.5" x 4.25" x 2.75"
Kem Kem Fossil Beds - Morocco
Otodus is an extinct genus of mackerel shark which lived from the Paleocene to the Miocene epoch. The name Otodus comes from Ancient Greek ὠτ and ὀδούς – thus, "ear-shaped tooth". Wiki
Ototodus' greatest claim to fame is that it seems to have been directly ancestral to Megalodon, the 50-foot-long, 50-ton predatory behemoth that ruled the world's oceans right until the cusp of the modern era. (This is not to diminish Otodus' own place in the record books; this prehistoric shark was at least one and one-half times as big as the biggest Great White Sharks alive today.) Paleontologists have established this evolutionary link by examining the similarities between these two sharks' teeth; specifically, the teeth of Otodus show early hints of the flesh-ripping serrations that would later characterize the teeth of Megalodon.