How Big Megalodon Actually Was Compared To A Great White

Looking back on its epic history, a megalodon could be three times the size of a great white and weigh as much as over twenty great white sharks. That comparison turns one of today’s most intimidating ocean predators into something surprisingly modest. Great whites can stretch beyond 20 feet and carry rows of serrated teeth, yet they would have been dramatically outclassed by the enormous shark that prowled prehistoric seas millions of years ago. Megalodon disappeared from the fossil record about 3.6 million years ago, but its immense size, formidable teeth, and mysterious appearance still make it one of the most fascinating predators ever to inhabit the ocean.

A great white shark off the coast of South Africa. As an apex predator of the ocean and frequently the first image that comes to mind when someone says the word “shark,” it’s understandable why many believe the great white shark is the modern descendant of megalodon. But truthfully, Carcharodon carcharias is not a descendant of the massive megalodon, which is more closely related to mako sharks, a faster, slimmer breed of sharks than the great white. Great whites are big, especially up close, but are not the largest shark we know of- the whale shark grows to be up to sixty feet! However, the great white is a common shark. They can be found worldwide in temperate and subtropical waters. Great whites migrate seasonally, but their preferred waters change as they mature. The older they are, the more they range out from shore into pelagic waters, where their swiftness and adaptation make them the perfect predator.

Great white sharks are built for speed but can grow to be up to 21 feet long, although unconfirmed reports of 25-foot specimens have been made. They weigh up to 4500 pounds. Great whites are roughly torpedo-shaped. Their conical snout and large first dorsal fin help them to accelerate in the water. And a great white has seven rows of triangular, serrated teeth, about three hundred in all. These are surprisingly small, with the largest rarely being longer than three inches, but they get the job done. However, a great white’s size and shape aren’t the great white’s only advantages. Great whites possess a surprisingly well-developed brain and can hunt both in groups and alone. They possess six powerful senses- in addition to sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, great whites can sense electric fields, which help them to pursue their prey. A great white’s sensitive nose can even detect minute traces of blood in water, which helps them track their diet of seals and sea lions, as well as fish, squid, and even other sharks.

An illustration of a megalodon, the giant prehistoric shark. While the great white is a modern marvel, megalodon, or Carcharodon megalodon, was no slouch. The largest predatory shark ever discovered, this massive shark ruled prehistoric oceans for millennia. The earliest megalodon fossils we’ve found date back to 23 million years ago, while recent studies suggest the big fish went extinct 3.6 million years ago. However, there’s still much we don’t know about megalodon. What scientists have learned is based on fossils, but the majority of these fossils are fossilized teeth. This is because megalodon’s skeleton was mostly made of cartilage rather than bone, a trait it shares with modern sharks. Because of this, a complete megalodon skeleton has never been located, despite megalodon being widespread in its time. Research suggests megalodon lived in tropical and subtropical locations around the globe, suggesting it was uniquely adapted to different oceans environments. Megalodon fossils have been found on every continent except Antarctica

Sculpture in the Museum of Evolution in Puebla, Mexico. By Sergiodlarosa (Sergio De La Rosa) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0. But how big was megalodon? Previously, megalodon was often thought to look like a giant great white shark, but recent research has changed that thought. Currently, scientists believe megalodons may have looked more like the modern lemon shark. Megalodon likely was slender with a shorter nose, and a flatter, almost squished face, as well as extra-long pectoral fins. However, the massive megalodon’s size is far from squished. Megalodon could be up to sixty feet in length, with larger specimens found in colder waters. Females tended to be bigger, averaging between 44 and 56 feet, while males reached an average of 34-47 feet. With their weight being an estimated fifty tons (100,000 pounds), a megalodon could be roughly the size of a train car, and almost as big as a blue whale. And every megalodon had plenty of massive teeth. A megalodon tooth could be seven inches long, and like many sharks, they had plenty of them, which helped them feast on whales, large fish, and other sharks.

A fossil megalodon tooth, left, next to the tooth of a modern great white shark. So, how much bigger was megalodon than the great white shark? A megalodon could be three times the size of a great white, and a megalodon weighed as much as over twenty great whites. Even megalodon’s teeth were often twice as long as a great white’s, and a megalodon’s jaws could do more damage. While a great white shark’s jaws have a bite strength of 18,216 Newtons, the megalodon is believed to have a bite strength ranging from 108,514 to 182,201 Newtons! It’s obvious the antediluvian apex predator dwarfed the more modern one, but in that case, why did the great white shark outlast its massive relative? It is believed that great whites may have shared the waters with megalodon, and it’s possible that changing climate conditions millions of years ago allowed the smaller sharks to outcompete their larger cousins. Around the time the megalodons vanished from the fossil record, the Earth’s seas cooled, making the prey species megalodon relied upon scarcer. Groups of great white sharks hunting together could have outcompeted juvenile megalodons, contributing to the megalodon’s extinction.

The oceans are a mysterious and complex ecosystem, where being massive isn’t always an asset. With how big megalodon was compared to a great white, it’s easy for one to assume that the bigger fish would have devoured the smaller one, but the fact that the opposite may be true shows the intriguing complexity of evolution and ecological development. A great white’s highly developed senses and intelligence allowed it to last for millions of years, while a magnificently massive megalodon declined into a shadow in the depths of history. Both inspire the curiosity of researchers, and we’re still learning more about both, but it’s a good reminder that being bigger isn’t always better.