The megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon, which likely reached at least 15 m in total length, is an iconic extinct shark represented primarily by its gigantic teeth in the Neogene fossil record. This ancient species is largely known only from its teeth and vertebrae in the fossil record. Thus, the living great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) has traditionally been used as a model for the body form of Otodus megalodon in previous studies. The new study, however, illuminates that Otodus megalodon had a body form that was more elongated than the great white shark.
Also referred to as Carcharocles megalodon, Otodus megalodon is a gigantic megatooth shark that lived in the world’s oceans from 23 to 3.6 million years ago.
This creature is typically portrayed as a super-sized monster in popular culture, with recent examples in the sci-fi films. Previous studies assume that the shark likely reached lengths of at least 15 m.
However, Otodus megalodon is largely known only from its teeth and vertebrae in the fossil record — a rather incomplete set of data from which to draw assumptions.
Thus, the modern great white shark was traditionally used as a model for Otodus megalodon bodies in previous studies. That model led paleontologists to conclude that the shark was round and stocky like great whites.
“Previous research depicted the shark species with a stocky body shape like that of the white shark and other lamnid species, but with the new study disputing this body shape interpretation,” said Dr. Mikael Siversson, a researcher at the Western Australian Museum.
“The mismatch between the stocky build of Otodus megalodon in published paleoartistic reconstructions and the surprisingly small diameter of the largest known vertebral centra of this species has bothered me for a long time.”
“The species had in fact an unusually slender vertebral column, which is at odds with previous reconstructions depicting megalodon as a girthy shark.”
“The only fossil…
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