There is a sad fact in this world, which we will never understand for sure what the long-lost megalodon-but new study really looks like what may be the most accurate reconstruction so far.
An international team led by Paleontologist Kenshu Shimada of DEPAUL University in the United States has determined that megalodone (Odontus Megalodon) It was probably longer and more elegant than previous interpretations of its scarce, mysterious remains.
“This study provides the most healthy analysis of the size and shape of the body and the shape of the megalodone,” says marine biologist Philip Sternnes, a former of California River in California, which is already in Seaworld.
“Instead of resembling a huge large white shark, it was actually more like a huge lemon shark, with a more extensive, elongated body. This shape has a much more meaning for effective movement through the water.”
Megalodone is one of the most captivating mysteries in the recording of the fossils. He lived from about 23 million to about 3.6 million years ago, during which time he occupied an excellent position at the top of the food network before being driven to disappear.
We know it was huge, compared to modern sharks, but learning more about how it looks is extremely difficult. This is because like those of today’s sharks, the skeleton of Megalodon was mostly cartilage.
Only his teeth and vertebrae are preserved as fossils of the seabed, which shows a shark monster that could be everywhere between 11 meters to over 40 meters (36 to 131 feet) with a length.
Most estimates settled between about 13 to 18 meters, with the white shark (Carcharodon Carcharias) As the basis for their model, using one of the most full megalodone fossils we have: an almost full spine found near Belgium with a length of 11 meters.
The White Shark is a real power plant, one of the most jerk predators in the ocean, so it’s easy to understand why scientists can turn to it to understand megalodon. However, not all sharks are built equally.
Instead of examining the megalodonian spine in the context of just a handful of species, Shimada and his colleagues compare it to a huge catalog of 145 lives and 20 extinct species of sharks.
The white shark has a brighter, commodity body. (Taken from Andrew Tirluel/moment/Getty images)
More specially, they wanted to calculate the length of the body parts no represented by the fossilized spine; That is, the head and tail of the shark.
Their new approach found that if the megalodone body plan was in accordance with most other shark evolutions, so elegantly made, the disappeared head and the predator’s tail could represent 16.6 and 32.6 percent of the total length of the body, such as the shiny, darkest body is more like a lemon -like body.Negaprion Brevirostris) from the white shark.
This means that for the Belgian individual the head would be 1.8 meters long and the tail 3.6 meters, making this specific megalodone a total of 16.4 meters wide.
Although the Belgian spine gives scientists a bunch of connected bones to work with, they are not the only paleontologists of megalodone vertebrae; Neither are the largest. The largest vertebra in assembly is 15.5 centimeters long (6.5 inches).
It is reported that other vertebrae found near Denmark are significantly larger, up to 23 centimeters. Assuming that this is the largest possible size that can reach megalodone vertebrae, the researchers have calculated a new highest size for the shark.
“The length of 24.3 meters is currently the largest possible reasonable assessment of O. Megalodon This can be justified on the basis of science and the present recording of the fossils, “says Shimada.
This length is comparable to two school buses, end-to-end, much larger than most sharks that swim the oceans today, although whale sharks feed on filters (sharks (sharks (sharks (sharks (Rhincodon Typus) They can reach a length of 20 meters or so, and actual whales can be significantly larger.
Lemon sharks, elegant and longer, can be much closer to the shape of megalodone. (Anita Blaker/Moment/Getty Images)
The interesting thing about all these large marine animals is that their bodies are also long and elegant. The short, commodity form of the white shark is built for short speeds of speed; Longer, elegant bodies of lemon sharks, whales and whales are better for more energy efficient swimming and minimal drag.
Longer, more elegant, more hydrodynamic body would allow megalodone to grow much larger than the white shark, whose maximum body size is less than 6 meters, limited by the energy needs of its swimming and hunting style.
At 23.4 meters in length, megalodone would travel the oceans at a speed of about 2.1 to 3.5 kilometers (1.3 to 2.2 miles) per hour, using sparing speeds only when necessary.
“This study not only refines our understanding of what Megalodone looked like, but also provides a framework for learning how size affects the movement in marine animals,” says Srernes.
“Gigantism is not only to become greater -it is about the development of the right body in order to survive on this scale. And Megalodon may have been one of the most extreme examples of it.”
The study has been published in Palaeontologia ElectronicaS