Carcharodon (from Ancient Greek κάρχαρος (kárkharos), meaning "sharp, jagged", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth", and thus, "sharp tooth/jagged tooth") is a genus of sharks within the family Lamnidae, colloquially called the "white sharks." The only extant member is the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). Extinct species include C. hubbelli and C. hastalis. The first appearance of the genus may have been as early as the Early Miocene or Late Oligocene. Carcharocles megalodon is still argued by some paleontologists (e.g. Michael D. Gottfried, Leonard Compagno, and Ewan Fordyce) to be a close relative of Carcharodon carcharias - as well as being in the same genus. When Megalodon belonged to this genus it had the scientific name Carcharodon megalodon. More recently, Megalodon has been assigned by most scientists to either the genus Carcharocles or Otodus.

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