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Megalodon #Shark Babies Were #Cannibalistic, As Large As Basketball Players Inside Wombs: Study
By - @kun5k
https://weather.com/en-IN/india/science/news/2021-01-13-megalodon-shark-babies-cannibalistic-large-basketball-players
(
: Guillermo Torres. Banco de Imágenes Ambientales (BIA), Instituto Alexander von Humboldt.)
By - @kun5k
https://weather.com/en-IN/india/science/news/2021-01-13-megalodon-shark-babies-cannibalistic-large-basketball-players
(
: Guillermo Torres. Banco de Imágenes Ambientales (BIA), Instituto Alexander von Humboldt.)
The #megalodon is considered to be the biggest predatory #shark that ever lived, with the largest of the species estimated to reach the size of about 66 feet (20 metres). It belonged to a class of fishes called #Chondrichthyes.
Recently, scientists came across a rare collection of 150 #megalodon vertebrae whose cartilage had mineralised. Researchers described these remains as "the only reasonably preserved vertebral column of the species in the entire world".
Using computed X-ray tomography (CT) scans, scientists counted 46 regularly-spaced growth rings in three of the #megalodon's vertebrae. Each ring represented a year of growth, which meant the shark was about 46 years old when it died.
The researchers calculated that the #shark's body length as a newborn was somewhere around 6.6 feet (2 metres). Not only is this size as big as an average basketball player, but it is also bigger than any of the newborn sharks currently known to mankind!
Further examination of the vertebrae rings revealed that the #sharks grew slowly and experienced no unusual growth spurts, with the highest growth rate occurring in the first seven years of their lives.
By combining the growth trajectory findings with data about body size in the largest known individuals, the researchers also estimated that #megalodon sharks may have lived to be at least 88 to 100 years old.
