doi.org/10.26879/1502
Credibility: 989
#Megalodon
DePaul University paleobiology professor Kenshu Shimada is leading a study with the help of 28 experts
This new scientific work provides important information about Megalodon (Otodus megalodon), a giant prehistoric shark that lived in almost every ocean between 15 and 3.6 million years ago.
The study, which involved researchers from a variety of fields, including shark biology, fossils and vertebrate anatomy, will be published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica.
Megalodon is known primarily for its fossilized serrated teeth, vertebrae and scales, as no complete skeleton has been found.
Because of the similarity of the serrated teeth, the modern great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) was long used as a basis for imagining what Megalodon might have looked like.
Previous studies, as well as science fiction books and movies like The Meg, have often portrayed Megalodon as a giant version of the great white.
Yet a nearly complete fossilized spine, thought to be the “trunk” portion of an O.
megalodon, has been well studied in Belgium.
It measures about 11 meters (36 feet) long.
The new study asked a simple question: “How big would the non-spine parts, like the head and tail, be of this Megalodon””
Calculating Megalodon’s true size
To answer that question, the team of scientists from Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States analyzed the proportions of the head, trunk and tail relative to the total body length of 145 species of modern sharks and 20 extinct species.
They assumed that Megalodon had a body similar to most sharks.
They calculated that the head accounted for about 16.6 percent of the total length and the tail for about 32.6 percent.
Based on this, since the Belgian “trunk” is 36 feet (11 meters), the head would have been about 6 feet (1.8 meters) long and the tail 12 feet (3.6 meters).
This gives an estimated total length of 54 feet (16.4 meters) for this particular Megalodon.
The largest vertebra in the Belgian specimen is 6 inches (15.5 centimeters) in diameter, but even larger Megalodon vertebrae, up to 9 inches (23 centimeters) in diameter, have been found in Denmark.
If these Danish vertebrae are the largest in the body, this individual could have reached 80 feet (24.3 meters) in length.
“Right now, 80 feet (24.3 meters) is the largest reasonable estimate for Megalodon’s size that we can justify based on the science and fossils we have today,” said Shimada, who is in the departments of Environmental and Biological Sciences at DePaul University.
But Shimada and his team’s study didn’t stop there.
By comparing body proportions, they concluded that Megalodon’s shape was likely more similar to the modern lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris), which has a slimmer body than the great white.
They also noted that modern giant sharks, such as the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) and the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), like whales, have slender bodies.
This is because large, robust bodies are not efficient for swimming in water.
The great white shark, on the other hand, with a thicker body, cannot grow to a giant size (up to 23 feet or 7 meters) because of these limitations.
The discovery helped explain why some aquatic animals can be gigantic and others can’t.
More insights into growth and behavior
The research team also included two of Shimada’s former master’s students at DePaul University: Phillip Sternes and Jake Wood.
“Our study reinforces the idea that Megalodon was not just a giant version of the modern great white, confirming our previous research,” said Sternes, who now works as an educator at SeaWorld San Diego.
“What makes our study different from all others looking at the size and shape of Megalodon is that we used a new approach that doesn’t rely solely on the modern great white,” added Wood, who is now a doctoral student at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
The study also reviewed other biological aspects.
For example, an 80-foot (24.3-meter) Megalodon would weigh about 94 tons, and its average speed, estimated from its scales, would be between 1.3 and 2.2 miles per hour (2.1 and 3.5 kilometers per hour), which is no faster than the modern great white shark.
Growth patterns in the Belgic vertebrae suggest that Megalodon gave birth to live young that were about 12 to 13 feet (3.6 to 3.9 meters) long, and that the embryos fed by eating eggs inside the mother.
These patterns, along with the fossil record of Megalodon and the great white shark lineage, suggest that the emergence of the great white shark about 5 million years ago may have contributed to the extinction of Megalodon because of competition.
“Many of our interpretations are still uncertain, but they are data-based and will serve as a reference for future studies on Megalodon biology,” said Shimada, who hopes a complete skeleton will one day be found to test these ideas.
Published in 03/14/2025 18h30
Text adapted by AI (ChatGPT / Gemini) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption. Information about DOI, author and institution can be found in the body of the article.
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