The story of life on Earth has to do with evolution. Dating from a few billion years to modern day, welcome to Evolution where species survive and died out.
Around 100 million years ago, there swam a juvenile Ichthyosaur separated from it's family group, in North America. It was about 3 meters long, although adults reached over 7 meters long, making it the size of an Orca. But unknown to it swam a predator. We know this Ichthyosaur as Platypterygius, and the predator of this hypothetical scenario is the Ginsu Shark. The shark swims up and attacks the Ichthyosaur and it was the end of it's short life. Unlike the modern day Great White Shark, this Shark was larger and much more dangerous. It hunted basically anything it can watch, the Ichthyosaur doesn't have echolocation, but an ambush is enough for the giant shark. Specimens have been found worldwide and the largest measured 9 meters long and weighed 6 tons, making it twice the size of a Great White Shark. This was likely the first giant shark in history and appeared around 107 million years ago.
It coexisted with the last Pliosaurs and Ichthyosaurs. Ginsu Sharks were able to take down prey bigger than themselves. But why did they disappear? Why did their smaller relative, the Crow Shark or Squalicorax, survive? Although it was the largest shark of it's time, something much more bigger and stronger appeared.
Ginsu Shark was first discovered in 1843. There are currently four species, with the largest reaching 9 meters. Most of their fossils have been found in North America, which was once a large inland sea. With large powerful jaws and being a fast and powerful swimmer, Ginsu Shark is suggested to be an aggressive predator. During it's time as terror of the seas, it hunted everything from turtles to even dinosaurs and pterosaurs. A Pternaodon fossils has been found with a bite mark at the neck, meaning the Cretoxyrhina leaped out of the water and grabbed the pterosaur and killed it.
From 107 to 89 million years ago, Pliosaurs and Ichthyosaurs competed with the giant shark. However, an extinction event happened which wiped them out. For 3 million years, Cretoxyrhina was the top predator until something huge, bigger and more deadly than any of it's competitors appeared. There was more than one in fact, one of them was Tylosaurus, a 15 meter long Mosasaur, that weighed over 10 tons, it first appeared 86 million years ago, these animals ate the same source of food, but unlike Cretoxyrhina, it hunted like Orcas, ramming their prey, and it was one of the many giant Mosasaurs that began to appear in the Cretaceous period.
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Around 82 million years ago, another large predator came, Deinosuchus, a relative of modern day alligators. At 15 meters long, this alligator would've been too big for a Ginsu Shark to fight.
Around 70 million years ago, the largest Mosasaur began to appear, Mosasaurus. With intense competition with Mosasaurs and alligators, the last Ginsu Shark disappeared from the face of the Earth 70 million years ago. It had been around for 37 million years and the terror of it was finally over. When the Cretoxyrhina went extinct, Mosasaurs grew bigger. This role will happen again when Megalodon appears, who will die out due to competition with Livyatan, Orcas, and Great White Sharks. Ginsu Shark maybe gone, but it's legacy will live on till this day.
