Megalodon On the Food Chain

The ecology of ancient marine vertebrates is often investigated with fossil evidence of predator-prey interactions, such as bite marks, preserved stomach contents, or coprolites. More frequently, feeding strategies and diet are inferred from the morphological characteristics of fossils, such as jaw size or tooth shape. However, fossil evidence of predator-prey interactions not only is rare but also captures only a snapshot in time. Moreover, morphological characteristics are enough to merely group taxa into broad categories. As such, while the aforementioned approaches can serve as initial evidence for the formation of hypotheses regarding the structure of ancient ecosystems, additional experimental evidence is required for the validation or rejection of such assumptions. Fortunately, recent methodological advances provide new opportunities for geochemical diet proxies.