Supersized ̈baby ̈ Sharks by Raquel Morgens

 Raquel Morgens

Supersized  ̈baby ̈ Sharks

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/newborn-megalodon-sharks-fossils-larger-most-adult-huma

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Baby sharks takes a new form in the infamous megalodon sharks! These sharks were predicted

to be 2 meter longs at birth by the examination of a megladons vertebrae. These sharks lived

23-2.5 million years ago, researchers reported January 11th in Historica Biology. Little is

known about the shark’s biology though as its skeleton was made of difficult-to-fossilize

cartilage, so what scientists do know mostly comes from fossilized teeth. Paleobiologist

Kenshu Shimada of DePaul University in Chicago, and colleagues used megalodon

teeth to estimate a total adult body length for the fish of at least 14 meters! Through luck

though Shimada and colleagues had a rare piece of evidence, megalodon vertebrae;

Although shark skeletons are made of cartilage, the backbones are able to become

hardened by deposits of calcium salts, which can then be fossilized. The researchers

used an imaging technique called micro-computed tomography to study three

well-preserved vertebrae from one shark. The images showed 46 growth bands, which

means the shark lived to the age of 46! It is estimated to have been about 9 meters long

at its death, and the size of the bands shows that the shark grew at a rate of about 16

centimeters each year. This caused the researchers to estimate that the shark was

about 2 meters long at birth!

1.) What would life in the sea look like if megalodons were still around?

2.) Do you believe that there's still aquatic animals that we've yet to discover in the

ocean?

3.) What's your favorite ocean animal and why?