Scientists unlock mystery about the megalodon

The largest, most formidable shark to have ever roamed the ocean could have been even bigger than beforehand thought, in response to a new study.

The analysis, revealed Sunday within the journal “Palaeontologia Electronica,” means that the megalodon, which dominated the ocean 3.5 million years in the past, was greater than thrice the dimensions of a great white shark.

The monster shark, depicted within the 2018 sci-fi horror movie “The Meg,” was beforehand believed to be between 50 and 65 toes lengthy. However the brand new research, carried out by researchers in 28 nations, discovered the megalodon might have reached a whopping 80 toes in size, roughly the dimensions of two faculty buses.

The research helps affirm the speculation that the megalodon was not “merely a big model of the modern-day nice white shark,” as beforehand thought, stated Phillip Sternes, an educator at SeaWorld San Diego and a researcher on the challenge. As an alternative, the shark might have nearer cousins at present.

It additionally sheds gentle on the thriller round how the fearsome carnivore could have gone extinct hundreds of thousands of years in the past – and the position the smaller great white shark performed.

How large was Megalodon?

Scientists have lengthy struggled to find out the dimensions of the megalodon as a result of no full fossil of the extinct animal has been discovered. Previous research have estimated the megalodon’s size and physique form by evaluating it to the good white shark, which has comparable large, serrated teeth.

However Sternes stated these research relied on assumptions about similarities between only the two shark species.

The brand new research in contrast megalodon fossils with greater than 150 dwelling and extinct shark species. It discovered the megalodon could have had an extended, extra slender physique resembling that of the fashionable lemon shark, moderately than the good white. It might have ranged between round 54 toes lengthy and 80 toes lengthy, the research suggests.

And that longer size is not only a enjoyable truth in regards to the fearsome creatures. It might additionally paint a clearer image about the best way megalodons moved by the water.

Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiology professor at DePaul College in Chicago who led the research, stated findings in regards to the megalodon’s maybe-slender physique align with what scientists already learn about different gigantic aquatic animals: Thinner our bodies enable lengthy animals to swim extra effectively.

If the megalodon was an analogous form and dimension to the fashionable nice white shark, that torpedo-shaped physique would “not enable it to be an environment friendly swimmer,” to catch prey and survive, Shimada defined.

So what killed the megalodon?

Little is thought about how and why megalodon went extinct round 3 million years in the past. However the research says the good white shark might have had one thing to do with it.

The fossil report and “inferred development patterns,” means that the rise of the good white shark, and the competitors it introduced, truly helped result in the demise of the megalodon, the research states.

Researchers are nonetheless investigating the megalodon’s evolution, however Sternes advised USA TODAY one chance is that the predator’s giant physique may not have been as adaptable as smaller shark species, even when it might swim freely.

“We have realized about how the planet fluctuates with totally different environmental elements, how life responds to it,” he stated. “Understanding the previous can higher inform us about each the current and the long run for all times on Earth.”

This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Scientists unlock mystery around the monster shark megalodon