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The gaping jaws of a mannequin of the prehistoric megalodon greets guests initially of the exhibition. (D. Finnin/American Museum of Pure Historical past)
Tens of millions of years later, nobody nonetheless is aware of what the monstrous Megalodon shark actually appeared like.
That’s in accordance with shark researchers who discovered that each one beforehand proposed physique types of the large Megalodon, or megatooth shark, ought to stay within the realm of speculations.
“The research could look like a step backward in science, however the continued thriller makes paleontology, the research of prehistoric life, an enchanting and thrilling scientific subject,” stated Kenshu Shimada, DePaul College paleobiology professor and a coauthor of the research.
This newest analysis shedding gentle on the present understanding of the physique form of the Megalodon (formally referred to as Otodus megalodon) seems within the worldwide journal Historic Biology.
The Megalodon is usually portrayed as a super-sized, monstrous shark in novels and movies such because the 2018 sci-fi movie “The Meg.” Earlier research counsel that the shark possible reached lengths of not less than 50 toes and probably as a lot as 65 toes. For comparability, the grownup nice white sharks that go to Cape Cod yearly are normally within the 11-foot to 16-foot vary.
“This new research reveals that there are at present no scientific means to help or refute the accuracy of any of the beforehand revealed physique types of O. megalodon,” stated lead writer Phillip Sternes, a DePaul grad who’s at present a Ph.D. candidate on the College of California, Riverside.
The Megalodon is thought solely from its tooth and vertebrae within the fossil document, and historically the trendy nice white shark was used as a mannequin for the prehistoric shark’s physique kind.
Nice whites belong to the shark household Lamnidae, or lamnids, and they're partially warm-blooded.
The Megalodon isn't a lamnid shark, however it was believed to have been partially warm-blooded. Based mostly on that inference, a earlier research used two-dimensional geometric form analyses on the physique types of trendy lamnids to suggest a Megalodon physique kind.
This new research from the shark researchers checked out whether or not a two-dimensional evaluation can really differentiate the physique types of trendy warm-blooded species from these of contemporary cold-blooded ones throughout the shark order Lamniformes, which incorporates the Megalodon. The research reveals that two-dimensionally, there’s no relationship between thermophysiology and physique kind in Lamniformes.
“The truth that we nonetheless don’t know precisely how O. megalodon appeared retains our creativeness going,” Shimada, the DePaul paleobiology professor, stated. “That is precisely why the science of paleontology continues to be an thrilling educational subject. We’ll proceed in search of extra clues within the fossil document.”