Was the Megalodon shark actually as massive and monstrous as it has looked in sci-fi movies?

A new study has found that the Megalodon shark was actually not like a gigantic great white shark. The prehistoric megatooth shark was a more slender shark than previous studies have suggested, according to DePaul University researchers.

Formally called “Otodus megalodon,” it is typically portrayed as a super-sized, monstrous shark in novels and sci-fi films, including “The Meg.” Previous studies suggest the shark likely reached lengths of at least 50 to 65 feet.

However, the Megalodon shark is largely only known from its teeth and vertebrae in the fossil record. As a result, the modern great white shark has traditionally been used as a model for the body form of the Megalodon in previous studies.

Now, the new study shows that the megatooth shark had a body form that was more elongated than the modern great white shark.

“The remarkably simple evidence that O. megalodon had a more slender body than the great white shark was hidden in plain sight,” said Kenshu Shimada, a DePaul University paleobiology professor, and a co-leader and the senior author of the study.

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An incomplete set of fossil vertebrae from an O. megalodon individual was previously reported to be about 36 feet in total combined vertebral length. But the exact same fossil individual was estimated to only be 30 feet in total length in another previous study.

“It was a ‘eureka-moment’ when our research team realized the discrepancy between the two previously published lengths for the same Megalodon specimen,” Shimada said.

“The new study strongly suggests that the body form of O. megalodon was not merely a larger version of the modern great white shark,” said co-leader Phillip Sternes, who’s the first author of the study. “Even though it remains uncertain exactly how long the body of O. megalodon was elongated relative to the great white shark, this new finding marks a major scientific breakthrough in the quest to decipher what Megalodon looked like.”

The research team of the new study consists of 26 shark experts including Sternes and Shimada, representing 29 academic institutions around the globe — including the U.K., Austria, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and Australia, as well as the U.S.

“Despite the major scientific advancement in our new study, the fact that we still don’t know exactly how O. megalodon looked keeps our imagination going,” Shimada said. “The continued mystery like this makes paleontology, the study of prehistoric life, a fascinating and exciting scientific field.”