How to Compare the Size of a Megalodon Skeleton
Complete fossilized skeletal evidence of the megalodon shark (Carcharodon megalodon) is rarely found because shark skeletons have soft cartilage instead of bones. Most fossil remains are of its teeth. Early comparative studies of its teeth were speculative and led to exaggerations of its size.
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Teeth
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After 20 million years, all that remains of ancient sharks is their fossilized hard enamel teeth and a few vertebrae. The largest of these teeth are over 6 inches long. The earliest jaw and skeletal reconstructions based on the huge teeth were erroneous and gave rise to myths greatly overestimating megalodon's size.
Early Reconstruction
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Comparing tooth size to length of living sharks, especially the great white shark, has been the basis for determining the overall size of the megalodon. The first dentition-based reconstruction of megalodon in 1909 by the Museum of Natural History in New York extrapolated a body length of 98 feet. In 1973, ichthyologist John E. Randall discovered a strong correlation between the height of shark tooth enamel and its overall length, putting it at 42 feet.
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Later Reconstruction
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In 1996, paleontologist Michael Gottfried and shark systematists Leonard Compagno and S. Curtis Bowman estimated the length of megalodon at 52 feet. After extensive great white studies, they discovered that tooth enamel height is not strictly proportional to body length. In sharks over 16 feet long, tooth size levels off and is no longer indicative of further increases in body size.
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