So big eating starts early?
Thank goodness! I spend quite a bit of time swimming in the sea, and have constantly had a nagging worry about the thought of being bitten in half by a 60 — 80 foot shark. Now I know they were only about 50 feet long, I will be far more relaxed about the whole thing.
A massive haul of huge razor-sharp teeth which belonged to the biggest fish that ever lived were stumbled on in a desert by chance.
The bumper find of megalodon teeth in the Atacama desert in Chile is now "one of the largest scientific collections of megalodon teeth in the world."
"[It's] by far the largest shark of all time, a super predator whose wingspan is estimated to be between 16 and 20 metres (52 and 66 feet) long," said Atacama Palaeontology's Executive Director, Pablo Quilodran.
Bloody hell! Those movies on the SYFY channel were right after all!"[It's] by far the largest shark of all time, a super predator whose wingspan is estimated to be between 16 and 20 metres (52 and 66 feet) long,"
I wonder if they also found a high-powered laser gun nearby?Bloody hell! Those movies on the SYFY channel were right after all!
I have never heard "wingspan" referred to for shark size.
"…the largest shark of all time, a super predator whose wingspan is estimated to be between 16 and 20 metres (52 and 66 feet) long,"
It conjures up a rather strange image.
FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/it-s-o...absolutely-no-idea-what-megalodon-looked-likeIt's Official: New Study Shows We Have No Idea What Megalodon Really Looked Like
Earth's oceans were once home to an absolutely fearsome predator.
We know it only from teeth and vertebrae in the fossil record, but these tell us that megalodon (Otodus megalodon) was absolutely colossal. Many of those teeth are as big as your hand. Megalodon, we can only conclude, was the largest shark ever to swim the seas, with a maw that could easily swallow a human whole.
But sharks are mostly soft tissue, their bodies supported by cartilage rather than bone. Most of their remains haven't survived the 3.6 million years since their extinction; this means we've had to guess what it looked like based largely on those teeth and vertebrae alone.
Was it a chunky muscle-unit like the great white? Was it more sleek and slender like a blue shark, or pointy like a goblin shark? Did it have two heads? According to the latest study, the best answer we now have is a... giant shrug and the scientific version of a "dunno".
It appears it might be time to rethink how we reconstruct the ancient beast.
"The reality," writes a team of researchers led by biologist Phillip Sternes of the University of California Riverside, "is that there are presently no scientific means to support or refute the accuracy of any of the previously published body forms of O. megalodon." ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/3d-megalodon-modelMegalodon was fastest swimming shark ever and could devour an orca in 5 bites, 3D model reveals
The megalodon shark was so big and powerful it could devour an orca in a few bites, and was the fastest cruising shark to ever swim the oceans, a new study shows. The finds were revealed thanks to a new 3D model of the long-extinct shark, based on data collected from fossilized teeth and vertebrae, which is giving scientists the best look yet at the size, speed and diet of the infamous "superpredator." ...
In the new study, researchers combined measurements from an exceptionally well-preserved vertebral column uncovered in Belgium and a set of teeth found in the U.S. to create a rough blueprint of the megalodon's skeleton. The team then used body scans of a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) to fill in the gaps and estimate the amount of soft tissue that would have surrounded megalodon's bones. The scientists then combined these data to create a digitally reconstructed 3D megalodon that researchers could use to peer into the secret lives of the giant beast.
Based on the model, "we estimate that an adult O. megalodon could cruise at faster absolute speeds than any shark species today and fully consume prey the size of modern apex predators," the researchers wrote in the new study ...
Molly Sampson discovered a gigantic magalodon tooth in the waters of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland in the United States.
No stranger to ancient artifacts, Molly apparently told her mother that she was ‘going to look for Meg’ that morning.
Molly has found over 400 teeth during her expeditions to the beach, but this 13-centimetre long specimen is the largest.
Calvert Cliffs is rotten with shark teeth. But one this large is unusual. It is difficult to get to and can be dangerous. It's mostly private access except by boat or more people would be swarming around it.She must be a dedicated and patient searcher...or are these thing easy to find?
I remember it took me a long time to find beach agates...and a lot of work building patience stamina.
13 cm teeth?
Cydney Root, 12, was searching a beach for fossils in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, when she found a tooth as large as her hand.
“The day before there was a massive cliff-fall, so we went down the next day and it was just in front of the cliff – it was just sitting there on the surface.
video at linkMichael said a megalodon shark tooth this large with this colour is extremely rare.