The Western Australian Museum was part of an international team of 26 renowned paleontologists and shark neontologists who challenged a recently published interpretation of the body shape of Otodus megalodon.
Otodus megalodon is an extinct species of shark that lived 16 to 3.5 million years ago. Mikael Siversson, Director of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the WA Museum, stated that previous studies described the shark species with a stocky body shape, akin to that of the great white shark and other lamnid species, but the new study challenges this interpretation of the body form.
“The mismatch between the stocky constitution of Otodus megalodon in published paleoart reconstructions and the surprisingly small diameter of the largest known vertebral centrum of this species bothered me for a long time,” he explained.
“The species did, in fact, have an unusually slender spine, which is at odds with previous reconstructions describing the megalodon as a bulky shark,” added Siversson.
The only fossil material available for this enormous shark includes associated dentitions, a relatively complete vertebral column, and isolated vertebrae and teeth.
Although we have a fairly clear idea of the mouth size from the associated dentitions, apparently covering all tooth positions, other anatomical features, such as the shape of the fins and tail, are unknown,” stated Siversson.
“In the future, any meaningful discussion about the anatomy of this shark, beyond the size and robustness of the jaws, will require the discovery of more or less complete skeletons,” he concluded.
