15 million years earlier than motion pictures like Jaws and Open Water gave swimmers the heebie-jeebies, a prehistoric shark species referred to as Otodus megalodon reached gargantuan sizes. Researchers have reassessed simply how massive the now-extinct beast would have been—and the outcomes are fin-tastic.
To refine its personal estimates of megalodon’s measurement, a global staff of biologists, paleontologists, and anatomists analyzed partial megalodon fossils alongside the morphology of each present and extinct shark species. From this information they extrapolated that the prehistoric shark, generally referred to as a megatooth shark, might have grown to a most measurement of 80 toes (24 meters) in size. Their research, printed at present within the journal Palaeontologia Electronica, additionally offers potential perception into why sure shark species have been capable of obtain gigantism, whereas others remained child sharks by comparability (doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo).
Based mostly on a partial 36-foot (11-meter) fossilized megalodon vertebral column (backbone) beforehand unearthed in Belgium, the staff investigated how huge the shark’s different physique components may need been. Led by paleobiologist Kenshu Shimada of DePaul College, they in contrast the shark’s backbone to the bodily proportions of 145 residing shark species and 20 extinct shark species.
On account of this evaluation and their assumption that the megalodon’s physique was much like that of most sharks, the researchers estimated {that a} megalodon with a 36-foot-long backbone would have had a 6-foot-long (1.8-meter-long) head and 12-foot-long (3.6-meter-long) tail. In whole, this particular person would have been a whopping 54 toes lengthy (16.4 meters).
If you happen to suppose that’s huge, you’re in for a shock. The researchers utilized these proportions to an assumed megalodon vertebrae found in Denmark—a few of the largest megalodon vertebrae ever unearthed. The staff concluded that the Danish shark would have been 80 toes lengthy (24.3 meters) and weighed 94 tons.
“The size of 24.3 meters is at present the biggest potential cheap estimate for O. megalodon that may be justified primarily based on science and the current fossil file,” Phillip Sternes, a co-author of the research and a biologist at SeaWorld San Diego, mentioned in a DePaul College assertion.
However what did a megalodon appear to be? As a result of an entire skeleton has by no means been discovered, students can solely research the prehistoric beast by analyzing partial stays and evaluating them to different shark species. Its serrated enamel resemble these of nice whites, nevertheless, so each academia and the leisure business (in addition to this text’s characteristic picture) have tended to depict the extinct species as a huge nice white shark.
However the brand new research “has solidified the concept that O. megalodon was not merely a huge model of the modern-day nice white shark, supporting our earlier research,” Sternes defined.
“What units our research aside from all earlier papers on physique measurement and form estimates of O. megalodon is the usage of a very new strategy that doesn’t rely solely on the trendy nice white shark,” added Jake Wooden, a co-author and biologist on the Florida Atlantic College.
In actual fact, Wooden, Sternes, and their colleagues theorized that the megalodon would have appeared slimmer than the cumbersome nice white, extra akin to the lemon shark. They then famous that at present’s large marine creatures—corresponding to whale sharks, basking sharks, and whales—even have extra slender and hydrodynamic kinds. This realization led them to hypothesize that cumbersome marine vertebrates, corresponding to nice white sharks, can’t develop to monumental sizes (phew!) with out altering their bodily type—in any other case, swimming would change into too inefficient.
“Many interpretations we made are nonetheless tentative, however they’re data-driven and can function cheap reference factors for future research on the biology of O. megalodon,” concluded Shimada.
It’s value emphasizing that with out entry to a whole megalodon skeleton, the staff’s data-driven strategy necessitated a good quantity of guesswork and assumptions. Moreover, shark physique proportions differ dramatically, so evaluating them to one another may not result in correct conclusions. Lastly, whereas assuming that vertebrae sizes correlate with physique size is logical, it’s not foolproof. It stays to be seen whether or not future fossil discoveries will show them proper.
If you happen to’re feeling grateful that we now not need to share the oceans with megalodons, I’m afraid there’s some unhealthy information: the research additionally revealed that at present’s nice white shark might have been partially accountable for the megalodon’s extinction 5 million years in the past.
(Run away, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo…)
