Researchers have rediscovered several enormous vertebrae of Otodus megalodon that were believed destroyed in a 1989 museum fire or otherwise lost — and the reanalysis of the specimens, along with new estimates, strengthens evidence that the giant shark could exceed 24 meters (79 feet) in length and weigh around 94 tonnes.
The fossils, described in a new study, are among the largest megalodon vertebrae known, giving paleontologists a rare opportunity to directly measure the animal's size rather than extrapolate from teeth. Combined with growth-band analysis, the specimens also suggest megalodon could live for nearly a century.
The rediscovery resolves a long-standing gap: the vertebrae were long cited in the literature but considered lost, leaving researchers unable to verify the measurements. Their return adds some of the most concrete evidence yet for the true scale of the largest shark that ever lived, which went extinct roughly 3.6 million years ago.
