ArticleScientific reports2020
Body dimensions of the extinct giant shark Otodus megalodon: a 2D reconstruction.
Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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8 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reassessment of the possible size, form, weight, cruising speed, and growth parameters of the extinct megatooth shark,Palaeontologia electronica (Online) · 2025Article
- Cautionary tales on the use of proxies to estimate body size and form of extinct animals.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- White shark comparison reveals a slender body for the extinct megatooth shark,Palaeontologia electronica (Online) · 2024Article
- Using pictographs as traits to explore morphological diversity in sharks.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- The extinct sharkScience advances · 2022Article
- Sperm whales (Physeteroidea) from the Pisco Formation, Peru, and their trophic role as fat sources for late Miocene sharks.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Biomechanical insights into the dentition of megatooth sharks (Lamniformes: Otodontidae).Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Use of nursery areas by the extinct megatooth sharkBiology letters · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Inferring the size of extinct animals is fraught with danger, especially when they were much larger than their modern relatives. Such extrapolations are particularly risky when allometry is present. The extinct giant shark †Otodus megalodon is known almost exclusively from fossilised teeth. Estimates of †O. megalodon body size have been made from its teeth, using the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) as the only modern analogue. This can be problematic as the two species likely belong to different families, and the position of the †Otodus lineage within Lamniformes is unclear. Here, we infer †O. megalodon body dimensions based on anatomical measurements of five ecologically and physiologically similar extant lamniforms: Carcharodon carcharias, Isurus oxyrinchus, Isurus paucus, Lamna ditropis and Lamna nasus. We first assessed for allometry in all analogues using linear regressions and geometric morphometric analyses. Finding no evidence of allometry, we made morphological extrapolations to infer body dimensions of †O. megalodon at different sizes. Our results suggest that a 16 m †O. megalodon likely had a head ~ 4.65 m long, a dorsal fin ~ 1.62 m tall and a tail ~ 3.85 m high. Morphometric analyses further suggest that its dorsal and caudal fins were adapted for swift predatory locomotion and long-swimming periods.
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