MEGALODON may have grown to a staggering 80 feet in length – and weighted 94 tons.
The staggering size of the prehistoric killing machine has been revealed in a study that reveals what the ocean predator really looked like.
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It’s often thought that the megalodon would’ve looked a lot like a great white shark, but bigger.
But scientists now think the enormous creature looked “closer in shape to a lemon shark or even a large whale”.
The usual way to guess at the size of a megalodon is by taking tooth measurements – and doing some guesswork from there.
But scientists at DePaul University and University of California Riverside say they’ve created a more accurate guess by examining the megalodon’s vertebral column.
They compared this to more than 100 species of sharks (both living and extinct) to make a better estimate.
And they think that it could’ve grown up to 24.3 metres in length – that’s about 80 feet.
“The length of 24.3 meters is currently the largest possible reasonable estimate for O. megalodon that can be justified based on science and the present fossil record,” said Kenshu Shimada, of DePaul University.
Megalodon lived (almost) all around the world between 15 million and 3.6 million years ago.
But there are no known complete skeletons, which makes getting a perfect picture of its size difficult.
It’s previously been thought to look like a great white shark – and that’s how it’s depicted in sci-fi flick The Meg.
However, a nearly-complete fossilised vertebral column in Belgium that’s about 36 feet long was used to make a better guess at how it would’ve looked.
This gave scientists the ability to work out its proportions.
They claim at the head made up 16.6% of its body, while the tail was 32.6% of the overall length.
And based on those proportions, they think that the megalodon would’ve looked more like a modern lemon shark.
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That means it would’ve had a more slender body that modern great whites.
“This study provides the most robust analysis yet of megalodon’s body size and shape,” said Phillip Sternes, of UCR.
“Rather than resembling an oversized great white shark, it was actually more like an enormous lemon shark, with a more slender, elongated body.
“That shape makes a lot more sense for moving efficiently through water.”
MEGALODON – THE FACTS
Here’s what you need to know…
Megalodon is one of the biggest predators ever to have lived.
The creature is believed to have died out around 3.6 million years ago.
But it dominated oceans during life, and could’ve reached lengths of up to 80 feet.
Its jaws would’ve been able to exert up to 40,960 pounds of force.
Megalodon prey would’ve included seals, sea turtles, and even whales.
Scientists think that megalodon would’ve used its jaws to break through the chest of its prey, puncturing its major organs.
Great whites have stocky bodies – and they become stockier the larger they get.
They’re described as being “torpedo-shaped”, letting them move with quick bursts of speed.
But they’re not capable of becoming gigantic, and don’t grow larger than 23 feet because of “hydrodynamic constraints”.
Lemon sharks are leaner and have a less pronounced taper.
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And scientists say that this longer cylindrical build allows for smoother and more energy-efficient swimming.
They think megalodon would’ve looked more like this, rather than the hefty bulk we’ve seen in movies.
“The physics of swimming limit how stocky or stretched out a massive predator can be,” said UCR biologist Tim Higham.
“You lead with your head when you swim because it’s more efficient than leading with your stomach.
“Similarly, evolution moves toward efficiency, much of the time.”
This more efficient body shape would’ve allowed the megalodon to grow to such large sizes – and still thrive.
Scientists compared it to Olympic swimmers and airplanes, both of which rely on minimising drag for smooth and easy movement.
“Gigantism isn’t just about getting bigger – it’s about evolving the right body to survive at that scale,” Sternes said.
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“And megalodon may have been one of the most extreme examples of that.”
Even newborn megalodon would’ve been around 13 feet long.
That’s about the size of an adult great white shark.
“It is entirely possible that megalodon pups were already taking down marine mammals shortly after being born,” Sternes added.
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The research was published in the Palaeontologia Electronica journal.
