Shock finding turns what we know about megalodon upside down
Spoiler alert. Future blockbuster Meg 2: The Trench is not 100% accurate.
For one, the gigantic sharks did not eat dinosaurs. They didn’t even live at the same time.
However, a new study might have blown an even bigger plot hole in the franchise, as it turns out megalodon was a bit of a slow boat.
Although seen speedily chasing down Jason Statham as he escapes the ferocious 50ft predator on numerous occasions, new evidence suggests megalodons were not as fast as previously thought. Instead, they spent much of their time slowly cruising the oceans at just two kilometres an hour, conserving their energy for short, sharp bursts for capturing prey. Or Hollywood stars.
Previous studies had suggested their cruising speed was around 5km an hour.
This predicted drop in velocity is due to the discovery of tiny placoid scales from the shark’s tough skin. Unlike those of its faster modern relatives, they do not appear to display the keels – narrowly-spaced ridges – thought to reduce drag in the water.
The scales are a rare find when it comes to piecing together the megalodon – the apex predator’s skeleton was made of cartilage, not bone, so most of what we know about it comes from giant fossilised teeth, which measure up to seven inches long. The name megalodon literally means ‘large tooth’.
‘Our big scientific findings come from “tiny evidence” as small as grains of sand,’ said lead author Professor Kenshu Shimada, speaking to EurekAlert.
‘This led my research team to consider [the] megalodon to be an “average swimmer” with occasional bursts of faster swimming for prey capture.’
The lowdown: Megalodon
Megalodon is the biggest fish to have ever lived on Earth – growing up to 50ft.
It roamed the oceans between 3.6 and 20 million years ago, preying on other large marine creatures – most likely whales, dolphins and other sharks.
Massive megalodon teeth have been found around every continent except Antarctica, showing how versatile a hunter it was.
Those big teeth are almost all that remains of the giant shark – its skeleton was made of cartilage, not bone, so there are no fossilised remains.
However, there are teeth aplenty – sharks continuously lose teeth, going through up to 40,000 in a lifetime.
Last month another study of the marine monster determined it was likely to have been warm-blooded, a factor that may have led to their extinction.
The latest study suggests this internal heat generation was used to aid the digestion of its large meals and absorb nutrients, helping it grow to such a massive size – and vice versa.
‘It suddenly made perfect sense,’ said Professor Shimada. ‘Megalodon must have swallowed large pieces of food, so it is quite possible that the fossil shark achieved the gigantism to invest its endothermic metabolism to promote visceral food processing.’
The study is published in the journal Historical Biology.
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