When you purchase through links on our land site , we may earn an affiliate perpetration . Here ’s how it works .
Megalodon , the biggest shark to have ever lived , may not have reckon like an ubergreat white sharkas is generally assumed — but instead may have been longer and thin , scientists have bring out .
By reanalyzing the incomplete pricker of a fossilizedmegalodon(Otodus megalodon ) held at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences ( IRSNB ) in Brussels , the team come up discrepancies inprevious reconstructions , which suggested these supersized shark had a body distance of around 52 feet ( 16 m ) and a form resemble neat white sharks .
Megalodon size and shape has been revised by researchers in a new study, but the findings have been met with criticism.
" The antecedently published reconstruction of Megalodon skeleton and body build looked very awkward , " atomic number 27 - authorKenshu Shimada , a paleobiologist at DePaul University in Chicago , distinguish Live Science in an email .
The squad of 26 shark experts revealed their findings in a new study , issue Jan. 21 in the journalPalaeontologia Electronica .
Great white sharks(Carcharodon carcharias)are often used as a model to inform approximation about megalodon ’s sizing and what it might have looked like . This is because shark systema skeletale are made largely of cartilage — which is less likely to be preserved as fossil than bone — so scientist have only found fossilized teeth and vertebrae from megalodon . As a close relative and apex predator with similar diet and trait , big Andrew Dickson White are thought to be an appropriate manakin .
The authors claim megalodon was longer and slimmer than previous reconstructions suggest.
Related : What did ' the one thousand thousand ' look like ? We have no estimation
In the new sketch , the researchers examined CT scans of a jejune great white ’s vertebral skeleton and then compare it to the vertebra of the megalodon specimen . Their findings showed difference in the ontogenesis of the centrum — the solid , central part of the vertebrae . In living Lamniform sharks ( the gild that megalodon and nifty Patrick White belong to ) , centrum increment relates to girth , the team wrote . The megalodon ’s vertebral editorial was find to be much thin than the great white ’s , which they interpret as meaning the 1000000 was far more supple than a great white-hot .
Theprevious analysissuggested a vertebra duration of 36.4 feet ( 11.1 m ) , but the new determination point this would have been the minimum distance . The researchers say megalodon was likely longer and slimmer , so it might not look like the great white-hot shark mannequin after all . " We still do n’t recognise the accurate shape of its head , fins , or tail , " Shimada state .
or else , megalodon might have resemble something closer to a mako shark ( Isurus oxyrinchus ) , co - lead authorPhillip Sternes , a life scientist at University of California Riverside , say in a statement .
So , how cock-a-hoop could megalodon have been ? The investigator do n’t need to give a authoritative duration without solid grounds , but this new information suggest it could have " easy " reach 50 foot ( 15 m ) long and may even have achieve 66 feet ( 20 m ) " or maybe slightly more , " Shimada sound out .
" The reality is that we need the discovery of at least one complete Megalodon skeleton to be more confident about its true size of it as well as its consistence form , " Shimada aver .
Despite questioning the finding from the late study , the research squad still believe it was important and say it was pregnant in helping the team reach its new ending . It ’s " an excellent good example of how science advance , " Shimada said .
The writer of the late written report are not win over by the new findings , however . Lead authorJack Cooper , a researcher at Swansea University in the U.K. , along with his colleaguesCatalina Pimiento , also at Swansea University , andJohn Hutchinson , at the Royal Veterinary College , say the unexampled study is more of an alternate hypothesis that suffers from " circular system of logic " — where an contestation assumes its conclusion is correct , and uses the determination to abide the argument
— Could the megalodon still exist today ?
— Megalodon shark mamas had human - size cannibal babies
— Great white shark may have driven megalodon to extinction
" Moreover , they do n’t really provide a unexampled distance estimate in their work , " they told Live Science in an email . The raw study , they impart , ignores the fact that the previous analytic thinking consider multiple living examples of shark alive today , and that one of their models also showed an elongated body when ground on outstanding ashen shark alone .
" Importantly , the ' elongated body ' version is base on a single observation , a compare with a single parallel , and lacks any statistical tests to support its theory , " they said . " More critically , several aspects of the study are impossible for future researcher to verify or replicate as the author do not provide the raw datum . "
