Daytripper: In Final Weeks, Megalodon Exhibit Still Has Bite

With just a few days remaining before school starts, a trip to the Megalodon exhibit at the Camden Adventure Aquarium might be a great way to spend a day with the kids as the summer winds down. Find out more in our Patch review below.

If the scale model is to be believed, walking into the mouth of the biggest shark to ever swim the oceans of Earth is not unlike boarding a subway car.  

The model is far more comfortable than a shark mouth, of course, and doesn't offer any of the requisite gnashing of teeth and rending of meaty bits that you might find in a shark's bite—but the effect leaves no less of an impact. You know, with no uncertainty, that you're in the presence of an apex predator.

"Megalodon - The Largest Shark that Ever Lived" is a 5,000-square-foot traveling exhibit from the Florida Museum of Natural History that's on display at the Camden Adventure Aquarium through September 3. The display includes fossils, models, castings of shark jaws, and some interesting facts about the gigantic fish.

For 15 million years, scientists estimate, megalodon dominated the seven seas, dining on whales, large fish, and other sharks. Their teeth were collected by ancient civilizations that believed them to be relics of their ancestor gods. But as cooling oceans moved whales away from the seas in which they were to be found, megalodon, too, disappeared.

The exhibit is enjoyable enough, but the aquarium itself remains an exciting attraction in its own right. Its indoor exhibits host a variety of marine species, with special, child-friendly touch tanks; its outdoor exhibits feature seals, penguins, puffins, and other marine fowl.

For shark fans, there's no greater thrill than the 40-foot transparent shark tunnel, which affords a view inside the 550,000 gallon tank that houses the aquarium's 20 sharks—including the only two hammerheads currently on display in the country. It's a great nightcap to the annual Discovery Channel Shark Week festivities.

For directions to and parking for the Camden Adventure Aquarium, visit here. For tickets and passes, visit here.