What is the biggest shark? Meet the ocean's largest fish and the top 10 biggest sharks
Sharks come in all shapes and sizes. The minuscule dwarf lantern shark is the smallest shark alive, being smaller than the human hand, according to Smithsonian. The aptly named megamouth can weigh up to 2,700 pounds and its mouth is approximately four feet lengthwise, says Oceana.
Sharks are "elasmobranchs," which means they are made of cartilaginous tissues, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Even with over 536 species of these oceanic apex predators, there is one shark that beats all others in terms of its size.
What is the biggest shark?
The largest shark alive is a whale shark, according to the Smithsonian. It is also considered the largest fish in the world, says the Natural History Museum.
Whale sharks can reach 60 feet in length, says Smithsonian, and on average, these fish weigh 20.6 tons, according to livescience.com.
These sharks are found mostly in tropical oceans but have been spotted all over the world from the U.S. and Brazil to Malaysia and Thailand, according to Britannica. Whale sharks are known for their broad and flat heads and distinctive body markings of light checkerboard stripes.
A whale shark's diet includes zooplankton, shrimp, algae, squid and even small tuna and albacore, says Britannica. Whale sharks are filter-feeding sharks, meaning as they swim, a whale shark's mouth will filter seawater for food through the gill slits.
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What are the top 10 biggest sharks?
According to Save Our Seas Foundation, these are the top 10 largest sharks found in the ocean. These sharks can reach up to the following approximate lengths:
Whale shark (62 feet)
Basking shark (40 feet)
Tiger shark (24 feet)
Great white shark (23 feet)
Greenland shark (21 feet)
Great hammerhead shark (20 feet)
Megamouth shark (18 feet)
Bull shark (11 feet)
Sand tiger/ragged-toothed shark (10 feet)
Thresher shark (18 feet)
Note for the thresher shark, more than half of its body length comes from its long tail. The thresher shark has one of the longest tails in the shark family, says Save Our Seas Foundation.
What shark is bigger than a megalodon?
The megalodon is considered the largest shark to have ever lived, according to the Natural History Museum. Records of megalodons date to around 20 million years ago, and the shark is a distant relative of the great white.
It is estimated megalodons could reach between 15 and 18 meters, or around 49 to 60 feet, in length, says the Natural History Museum. Megalodons are estimated to have weighed up to 120,000 pounds.
Other estimates state megalodons could reach a maximum of 20 meters, roughly 67 feet, long, according to a-z-animals.com. In comparison, the largest whale shark recorded was 61.7 feet long, and the average weight is around 41,000 pounds, or 20 tons.
Megalodons are larger than whale sharks, but the largest shark alive is a whale shark.
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Are megalodons still alive?
Despite internet rumors that megalodons are still lurking the deep seas, the shark species is extinct, says the Natural History Museum. The megalodon became extinct by the end of the Pliocene, which occurred approximately 2.6 million years ago when the Earth began to cool.
As ocean temperatures dropped and food sources were scarce, an estimated third of all large marine animals became extinct. Megalodons were native to tropical waters, so the cooler temperatures led to a loss of habitat, says the Natural History Museum.
Additionally, megalodons are believed to have given birth nearby the shore. When ice began to form at the poles and sea levels fell, these areas were destroyed, says the Natural History Museum.
It is very unlikely megalodons are alive since the sharks would leave noticeable bite marks on other large marine life, and their enormous teeth be shattered on the ocean floor. In addition, the current cold, deep ocean climate is not hospitable for these warm-water sharks.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Meet the biggest shark in the world and its ancestor
