In fact, Megalodon might not even have been the largest predator in the ocean at the time it was alive - the recently discovered Leviathan whale (Livyatan melvillei) was potentially larger than Megalodon and occupied the same territorial waters.
Far bigger than any dinosaur, the blue whale is the largest known animal to have ever lived. An adult blue whale can grow to a massive 30m long and weigh more than 180,000kg - that's about the same as 40 elephants, 30 Tyrannosaurus Rex or 2,670 average-sized men.
The colossal predator reached lengths up to 60 feet, stretching as long as a boxcar. The only marine animal ever to outweigh the massive megalodon is the blue whale, which weighs up to 200 tons, or just more than double the size of a megalodon.
The megalodon's fiercest competitor was the Livyatan, a creature comparable to the killer whale, which was about the same size as the massive shark, weighing an estimated 100,000 pounds and reaching up to 57 feet in length.
This data suggests that mature adult megalodons had a mean length of 10.2 metres (about 33.5 feet), the largest specimens measuring 17.9 metres (58.7 feet) long. Some scientists, however, contend that the largest forms may have measured up to 25 metres (82 feet) long.
The cooling of the planet may have contributed to the extinction of the megalodon in a number of ways. As the adult sharks were dependent on tropical waters, the drop in ocean temperatures likely resulted in a significant loss of habitat.
megalodon measured between 32.8 and 65.6 feet. Parton adds that, in terms of size, the megalodon was "comparable perhaps to the largest whale sharks we find in our oceans today." The Meg incorrectly sizes its villain at 75 feet, even claiming that some megalodons reached 90 feet.
While a similar length, the Megalodon had a much more robust body and huge jaws built for devouring whales and other large marine mammals. A Mosasaurus would not have been able to get its jaws around the much thicker body of the Megalodon. It would just take one catastrophic bite for the Megalodon to end the battle.
The largest underwater species is the blue whale, which weighs 242,500 pounds on average and has a length of 79 feet. While these are the average weight and length for the species, much larger ones have been spotted from whale-watching boats.
The Megalodon weighs in at upwards of 50-70 tons, measuring a span of up to 60-70 feet in length. By contrast, the Blue Whale tips the scale at around 100-110 tons and tops lengths of up to 100 feet. Who Wins on Size? It's pretty obvious that the Blue Whale is the bigger apex predator in this fight.
The largest Mosasaurus was probably slightly longer but considerably lighter than megalodon. Mosasaurs reached about 16 meters in length; megalodon reached maybe 16 or 17. However, megalodon probably attained 50 tonnes or so; mosasaurs could only get to about six.
Megalodon is NOT alive today, it went extinct around 3.5 million years ago. Go to the Megalodon Shark Page to learn the real facts about the largest shark to ever live, including the actual research about it's extinction.
The number of blue whales today is only a small fraction of what it was before modern commercial whaling significantly reduced their numbers during the early 1900s, but populations are increasing globally. The primary threats blue whales currently face are vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear.
The Perucetus colossus — meaning the colossal whale from Peru —was even bigger than the current heavyweight champion, the blue whale, according to an article published in the journal “Nature.”
Hundreds of years ago, European sailors told of a sea monster called the kraken that could toss ships into the air with its many long arms. Today we know sea monsters aren't real--but a living sea animal, the giant squid, has 10 arms and can grow longer than a school bus.
Examples of deep-sea gigantism include the big red jellyfish, the giant isopod, giant ostracod, the giant sea spider, the giant amphipod, the Japanese spider crab, the giant oarfish, the deepwater stingray, the seven-arm octopus, and a number of squid species: the colossal squid (up to 14 m in length), the giant squid ...
While the blue whale is the overall-largest creature of the sea, the lion's mane jellyfish goes to the top of the list for being the longest. These languid beauties have tentacles that reach an astonishing 120 feet in length. 3 It's hard to know why they are graced with such extraordinary appendages.
Mature megalodons likely did not have any predators, but newly birthed and juvenile individuals may have been vulnerable to other large predatory sharks, such as great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran), whose ranges and nurseries are thought to have overlapped with those of megalodon from the end of the Miocene and ...
A Livyatan would win a fight against a megalodon. The Livyatan has the size and speed advantage, bigger teeth, and it has endurance to last through a long fight.
After being harassed and stalked by the angry locals, Paul's family decides to follow in another boat. As the boat arrives, Chato and Junior begin to panic and fire flares as a 70-ton megalodon shark, the "Black Demon" (Spanish: El Demonio Negro), which is prowling the waters, begins to chase the boat.
A nearly perfectly preserved megalodon. estimated to be 4.7 million years old. Though some Speculated, it could be only 10,000 years old, this astounding discovery would reshape. our understanding of prehistoric marine life.
Megalodons are extinct. They died out about 3.5 million years ago. And scientists know this because, once again, they looked at the teeth. All sharks – including megalodons – produce and ultimately lose tens of thousands of teeth throughout their lives.
