The Spanish Institute of Oceanography of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) located remains of one of the largest sharks in history north of Lanzarote and La Graciosa: the megalodon.
It was the year 2012 when researchers from this scientific institution discovered 15 fossil teeth of this animal at a depth of 1,000 meters, in the Banco de la Concepción, which proves the presence of the megalodon (Carcharodon megalodon) in the Canary Islands.
Fossilized remains of whales and other marine mammals that were part of the diet of this great shark were also found in this space.
The Banco de la Concepción
The Site of Scientific Interest (LIC) of the Banco de La Concepción is located 75 kilometers northeast of Lanzarote. It is an underwater mountain that is more than 2,600 meters deep to 150 meters. This space was a place of shelter for species such as the manatee and an area where the famous giant shark had its feasts.
Likewise, for the Spanish Institute of Oceanography this place is "an oasis of biodiversity" due to its location, morphology and its location between currents that cause deep waters loaded with nutrients to emerge.
It was the European project Life Intemares that discovered these fossils during one of its marine research campaigns, which reach the size of an adult human hand.
This species could reach 20 meters in length and up to 100 tons in weight and lived on Earth between 28 and 1.5 million years ago during the Cenozoic period, that is, between the end of the Oligocene and the beginning of the Pleistocene.
