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Megalodons might have been even orotund than we first suppose , growing up to 80 understructure ( 24.3 meters ) long — 15 feet ( 4.5 m ) longer than old anticipation , according to a new study .
These massive sharks may also have beenmore slender than originally believed , the researcher said .
Scientists have long assumed megalodons looked like big great white sharks, but new research suggests this is not the case.
" Previous estimates using teeth to predict its sizing had the shark reaching about 18 - 20 measure total duration ( 59 - 65 feet ) , " study co - authorPhillip Sternes , an pedagog at SeaWorld San Diego , told Live Science in an email .
Megalodon find the seas of ancient Earth between around20 million and 3.6 million year ago . No staring megalodon ( Otodus megalodon ) skeletons have ever been ground , so our knowledge of these monster comes from fossils of their vertebra scales and teeth . The magnanimous megalodon fossil ever found is a 36 - foot - long ( 11 m ) segment of its spine , which would have been located in the luggage compartment of its body .
In the new survey , published Sunday ( March 9 ) in the journalPalaeontologia Electronica , investigator examined megalodon fossils and compared them with more than 150 living and extinct shark coinage to make a better picture of just how big this gargantuan shark was .
The researchers have developed a revised tentative body outline of a 80 foot megalodon.
The researchers compared the proportions of the megalodon ’s proboscis with the trunk of 145 modern and 20 extinct shark species .
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assume that the megalodon was approximately proportional to the bulk of other shark species , and extrapolating from the 36 - foot ( 11 m ) automobile trunk section , the researchers estimated that this individual may have had a 6 - invertebrate foot - long ( 1.8 m ) top dog and 12 - infantry - long ( 3.6 m ) tail , establish it a total length of 54 feet ( 16.4 meters ) .
Stock image of a lemon shark. Megalodons may have looked less like great white sharks and more like lemon sharks, scientists have found.
However , the largest megalodon vertebra ever plant measured up to 9 inch ( 23 cm ) in diameter — 3 inches ( 7.6 cm ) large than the largest vertebra from the 54 - foot shark . Scaling up from this larger vertebra , and based on the previous ratio , the megalodon it belong to may have measured 80 feet long .
The investigator also find that the megalodon may have given birth to live new appraise 12 to 13 feet ( 3.6 to 3.9 m ) long .
Megalodon shape
The researchers behind the unexampled written report also investigated the megaladon ’s pattern .
Megalodon tooth fogey are serrate and resemble the teeth of modern - daygreat white sharks(Carcharodon carcharias ) , which previously led investigator to assume that megalodon look similar to great Edward Douglas White Jr. .
" former study plainly assumed that megalodon must have looked like a gigantic version of the moderngreat blank sharkwithout any grounds , " study lead authorKenshu Shimada , a palaeobiology professor at DePaul University in Chicago , tell Live Science in an email .
However , consort to the new subject area , the megalodon may have actually looked more lithesome and flowing .
Based on the revised maximum body size , as well as hydrodynamic models of how large creatures like giant sharks ( Rhincodon typus ) , savour shark ( Cetorhinus maximus ) and whales move through the water , the researchers reason out that the megalodon was n’t heavyset like a dandy white and alternatively was more similar to a lemon shark ( Negaprion brevirostris ) .
However , until researchers observe a larger section of a megalodon ’s organic structure in the dodo record , we wo n’t genuinely know how large they could get , or what shape their bodies may have been .
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Jack Cooper , a megalodon researcher at Swansea University in the U.K. who was not involved in this new field , is n’t convinced by the subject area author ' argument that megalodon looked more like lemon shark than dandy whites .
" The hydrodynamic methods they use to seek to rule out these other body material body are based in the main on whale , which have entirely different skeleton and modes of swim to shark ( i.e. , vertical vs horizontal shadower movements ) , " Cooper say . " As such , while the proposed body design is possible , it should be treated as a working speculation and previous reconstructions ca n’t yet be definitively ruled out . "
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