Otodus megalodon is generally represented as a super-sized, monstrous shark in books and movies such as the 2018 sci-fi film “The Meg.” Previous studies suggest that the shark most likely reached lengths of a minimum of 50 feet (15 meters) and perhaps as much as 65 feet (20 meters).
” This new study shows that there are currently no scientific means to support or refute the accuracy of any of the previously published body forms of O. megalodon,” kept in mind lead author Phillip Sternes, who finished from DePaul in 2019 and is presently a Ph.D. prospect at the University of California, Riverside. Shimada mentored Sternes in his DePaul laboratory in Chicago, and the new research study additionally includes Shimadas existing graduate trainee, Jake Wood, as coauthor.
Paleobiologist Kenshu Shimada (DePaul University, Chicago) holds a tooth of an extinct shark Otodus megalodon, or the so-called “Meg” or megatooth shark. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion). Credit: DePaul University/Jeff Carrion
Otodus megalodon is known only from its teeth and vertebrae in the fossil record, and typically the modern excellent white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) was used as a model for the body type of O. megalodon. Carcharodon carcharias belongs to the shark household Lamnidae, or lamnids, likewise including the salmon, mako, and porbeagle sharks, and they are regionally endothermic (partly warm-blooded), permitting them to be active predators. Otodus megalodon is not a lamnid shark, but it was formerly inferred to also have been regionally endothermic. Based on the inference, yet another previous study utilized two-dimensional geometric shape analyses on the body forms of contemporary lamnids to propose a presumed body kind of O. megalodon.
The new research study by Sternes, Wood and Shimada examined whether such a two-dimensional approach can in fact differentiate the body kinds represented by contemporary endothermic (warm-blooded) species from those of contemporary ectothermic (cold-blooded) ones within the shark order called Lamniformes, which likewise consists of Otodus megalodon. The study strongly suggests that, two-dimensionally, there is no relationship between thermophysiology and body type in lamniforms. “Although it is still possible that O. megalodon could have looked like the modern-day fantastic white shark or lamnids, our outcomes recommend that the two-dimensional approach does not necessarily decisively allow the body form reconstruction for O. megalodon,” Wood said.
“This is exactly why the science of paleontology continues to be an interesting scholastic field. Well continue looking for more clues in the fossil record.”
Reference: “Body kinds of extant lamniform sharks (Elasmobranchii: Lamniformes), and comments on the morphology of the extinct megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon, and the development of lamniform thermophysiology” 6 February 2022, Historical Biology.DOI: 10.1080/ 08912963.2021.2025228.
Paleobiologist Kenshu Shimada (DePaul University, Chicago) holds a tooth of an extinct shark Otodus megalodon, or the so-called “Meg” or megatooth shark. Based on the reasoning, yet another previous study used two-dimensional geometric shape analyses on the body forms of modern lamnids to propose an inferred body kind of O. megalodon.
The brand-new study by Sternes, Wood and Shimada examined whether such a two-dimensional technique can actually differentiate the body types represented by contemporary endothermic (warm-blooded) species from those of modern-day ectothermic (cold-blooded) ones within the shark order called Lamniformes, which likewise includes Otodus megalodon. The study highly suggests that, two-dimensionally, there is no relationship in between thermophysiology and body type in lamniforms. “Although it is still possible that O. megalodon could have looked like the modern terrific white shark or lamnids, our outcomes suggest that the two-dimensional approach does not necessarily decisively permit the body form reconstruction for O. megalodon,” Wood stated.
Artists illustration of the Megalodon. However, new clinical research shows that no one understands what the Megalodon actually appeared like.
Most current study reveals no one still knows what the Megalodon truly looked like. DePaul University shark scientists state the mystery makes paleontology an interesting clinical field.
A brand-new clinical research study reveals that all formerly proposed body types of the enormous Megalodon, or megatooth shark, which lived nearly around the world approximately 15-3.6 million years back, stay in the world of speculations.
” The study may seem an action backward in science, however the ongoing mystery makes paleontology, the research study of prehistoric life, a interesting and amazing clinical field,” said Kenshu Shimada, DePaul University paleobiology teacher and a coauthor of the research study. This most current research shedding light on the truth about the present understanding of the body shape of the Megalodon (officially called Otodus megalodon) appears in the international journal Historical Biology.
