Published in the prestigious international journal Historical Biology, the research takes use of a cutting-edge approach for studying sharks.

Megalodons swam the Earth between 15 and 3.6 million years ago and are often depicted as gigantic creatures in films like 2018’s “The Meg.” The petrified teeth and vertebrae of Otodus megalodon are the sole evidence we have of their existence and size. This data suggests that they may have grown to 65 feet in length.

As of yet, no more fossil evidence has been unearthed that would allow scientists to make judgments about the bodies of these prehistoric creatures.

According to Phillip Sternes, an organismal biologist at the University of California, Riverside, “the cartilage in shark bodies does not survive well, thus there are presently no scientific tools to corroborate or contradict past research on O. megalodon body types.”

Researchers have traditionally based their models of Megalodon on current great white sharks. The lamniform shark order includes great whites, which are partly warm-blooded. Megalodons also belong to this group, and it is assumed that they share this partial warmth with great whites.

Unlike other fish that are reliant on water temperature, it was formerly assumed that sharks’ warm blood might widen their swimming range. However, it is now thought to improve swimmers’ performance.

Sharks like the great white and Megalodon are “faster than any other sharks in the open ocean,” according to Sternes.

Lamniformes are a diverse group of eight families with a total of fifteen distinct species to be found. Megalodon’s fin and body shape were averaged from the fins and bodies of five warm-blooded Lamniforme taxa, and a basic model for the creature was developed.

Megalodon’s form was based on five species, and Sternes and his colleagues sought to know whether those species varied in any way from the remainder of the order, which includes some sharks with a cold blooded constitution.

In order to better understand the five species, researchers compared them to each other and to other members of the lamniform group. The fin, head, and body morphologies of the sharks were quantitatively compared using field guide drawings.

They were unable to identify any broad patterns that would enable them to identify changes in the form of the body.

There is no such thing as a “warm blooded shark,” Sternes said. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing more exciting than finding a preserved Megalodon fossil. This conclusion, on the other hand, removes some of the uncertainty around prior discoveries and reopens the door to new ideas.”

Sternes pioneered the use of this two-dimensional sketching approach on sharks, although others normally utilize real species or pictures of organisms for similar comparisons.

In order to identify a species, “the drawings must be precise renderings,” he stated. There are several shark species that may be found in only the most distant areas of the world, making this a popular approach in the field of biology.

Sterne hopes that other researchers will utilize the method to study snakes, birds, and other creatures that are difficult to gather specimens for. To that end, he hopes that others will continue to investigate the Megalodon.

It may seem to be a step backward in science, says research co-author Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiology professor at DePaul University. “Paleontology, the study of ancient life, is a fascinating and interesting scientific topic because of the ongoing mystery.”