A new study led by Swansea University and the University of Bristol has revealed the size of the legendary giant shark Megalodon, including fins that are as large as an adult human.

There is a grim fascination in determining the size of the largest sharks, but this can be difficult for fossil forms where teeth are often all that remain. Today, the most fearsome living shark is the Great White, at over six meters (20 feet) long, which bites with a force of two tonnes.

Its fossil relative, the big tooth shark Megalodon, star of Hollywood movies, lived from 23 to around three million years ago, was over twice the length of a Great White and had a bite force of more than ten tonnes. The fossils of the Megalodon are mostly huge triangular cutting teeth bigger than a human hand.

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Jack Cooper and colleagues from Swansea University and the University of Bristol used a number of mathematical methods to pin down the size and proportions of this monster, by making close comparisons to a diversity of living relatives with ecological and physiological similarities to Megalodon.

Read more: archaeology news network