THE prehistoric “super carnivore” megalodon was bigger than previously thought, growing to a whopping 80ft and weighing 94 tons.
The beast would have been four times bigger than the largest great white shark ever on record – with the megatooth monsters understood to measure 12ft at birth.
The megalodon would have looked a lot like a great white shark but biggerCredit: Getty
Megalodons were more flexible in their dietCredit: Getty
The terrifying data comes from a larger vertebral specimen from Denmark, which suggests a meg could have had a body length of up to 79.7ft.
The staggering size of the prehistoric killing machine has been revealed in a study that exposes what the ocean predator really looked like.
Innovative analyses of fossil teeth have been used to investigate the food web of a megalodon’s marine ecosystem, in research by Dr Jeremy McCormack.
It’s often thought that the megalodon would have looked a lot like a great white shark but been far more imposing.
Scientists now believe the enormous creature would have looked “closer in shape to a lemon shark or even a large whale”.
The usual way scientists estimate the size of a megalodon is by taking tooth measurements and making predictions from there.
The research reveals megalodons were “opportunistic carnivores” that devoured anything that swam their way.
Experts now class the megalodon as a type of “superpredator” characterised as “opportunistic supercarnivores” that did not necessarily target high trophic-level prey or marine mammals exclusively.
That means, rather than being defined by the standard definition of an apex predator, megalodons were more flexible in their diet and ate creatures from all levels of the food chain.
The great white shark was also a “formidable competitor” of the megalodon when it appeared in the early Pliocene, feeding on both fish and marine mammals.
Being smaller, the great white shark had lower energy demands; therefore, it didn’t need to eat as much.
At around 13 feet long, a newborn megalodon would’ve been about the same size as an adult great white.
The competition could have “driven the megatooth clade to extinction”.
It’s understood from the fossil record that megalodons dominated the oceans for nearly 20 million years.
Megalodons lived (almost) all around the world between 15 million and 3.6 million years ago.
But there are no known complete skeletons, which makes getting a perfect picture of its size difficult.
It’s previously been thought to look like a great white shark – and that’s how it’s depicted in sci-fi flick The Meg.
Scientists claim that the head made up 16.6% of its body, while the tail was 32.6% of the overall length.
MEGALODON – THE FACTS
Here’s what you need to know…
Megalodon is one of the biggest predators ever to have lived.
The creature is believed to have died out around 3.6 million years ago.
But it dominated oceans during life, and could’ve reached lengths of up to 80 feet.
Its jaws would’ve been able to exert up to 40,960 pounds of force.
Megalodon prey would’ve included seals, sea turtles and even whales.
Scientists think that megalodon would’ve used its jaws to break through the chest of its prey, puncturing its major organs.
That means it would’ve had a more slender body than modern great whites.
Great whites have stocky bodies – and they become stockier the larger they get.
They’re described as being “torpedo-shaped”, letting them move with quick bursts of speed.
But they’re not capable of becoming gigantic, and don’t grow larger than 23 feet because of “hydrodynamic constraints”.
Lemon sharks are leaner and have a less pronounced taper which means its longer cylindrical build allows for smoother and more energy-efficient swimming.
This more efficient body shape would’ve allowed the megalodon to grow to such large sizes – and still thrive.
Megalodons dominated the oceans for nearly 20 million yearsCredit: AFP
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