It was 45 years ago that movie goers were scared to go to the beach thanks to the blockbuster hit movie "Jaws" which was about a Great White Shark terrorizing a New England community. But a Great White is dwarfed by what was the largest shark of all time, the Megalodon (which means "Big Tooth") and which lived from about 23 to 3 mya. While several teams of scientists have estimated its length based on framentary fossil remains (very little of a shark tends to fossilize), for the first team a team of researchers, led by the University of Bristol's Jack Cooper, have attempted to establish its other dimensions.
Megalodons were about three times as long as the modern Great White (which is not a direct ancestor) running between 15 to 18 meters (roughly 50-60') long. To give some sort of comparison, a typical city bus is approximately only 14 meters (almost 46') long.
Cooper's team has calculated that a 16 meter (52½') Megalodon would have possessed a head that was about 4.65 meters (15¼') long and sported a dorsal fin that was nearly as tall as the average man at 1.62 meters (just under 5'4") tall while the 3.85 meters tail was something like 3.85 meters (just over 12½') in height.
As the title of the thread indicates,
Here is the Abstract with the full paper available at: Body dimensions of the extinct giant shark Otodus megalodon: a 2D reconstruction
Here are some accounts in the popular press:
As an aside over the years I've picked up several Meg teeth ranging from 4 to 6" long and varying in color from slate black, chocolate brown and pale blonde.
Megalodons were about three times as long as the modern Great White (which is not a direct ancestor) running between 15 to 18 meters (roughly 50-60') long. To give some sort of comparison, a typical city bus is approximately only 14 meters (almost 46') long.
Cooper's team has calculated that a 16 meter (52½') Megalodon would have possessed a head that was about 4.65 meters (15¼') long and sported a dorsal fin that was nearly as tall as the average man at 1.62 meters (just under 5'4") tall while the
jaw.jpg
classic image of the staff from the American Museum
of Natural History sitting inside a Meg jaw
shark2.jpg
New reconstruction of Megalodon's size and proportions at different life
stages: a) 16-meter adult with 12 estimated body dimensions recorded;
b) 3-meter new-born; c) 8-meter juvenile as well as an d) artistic
reconstruction of a 16-meter adult
classic image of the staff from the American Museum
of Natural History sitting inside a Meg jaw
shark2.jpg
New reconstruction of Megalodon's size and proportions at different life
stages: a) 16-meter adult with 12 estimated body dimensions recorded;
b) 3-meter new-born; c) 8-meter juvenile as well as an d) artistic
reconstruction of a 16-meter adult
As the title of the thread indicates,
Here is the Abstract with the full paper available at: Body dimensions of the extinct giant shark Otodus megalodon: a 2D reconstruction
Here are some accounts in the popular press:
- New Study Reveals True Size of Megalodon
- Scientists Reconstruct Body Dimensions of Megalodon
- Researchers reveal true scale of megalodon shark for first time
- Shark researchers size up real 'Megalodon' for first time
- Megalodon discovery: Scientists reveal giant shark’s astonishing true scale
As an aside over the years I've picked up several Meg teeth ranging from 4 to 6" long and varying in color from slate black, chocolate brown and pale blonde.
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