All we can really be certain of is that Megalodon was a lamniform (mackerel shark). So it likely resembled modern mackerel sharks to some degree. That being great whites, porbeagles, Makos, etc.
I feel like Megalodon didn't exactly resemble any modern shark, & rather had a mix of their features.
The torpedo esque body of the Great White for ambushing from below, the more compact head of a porbeagle for a stronger bite, longer fins of a mako for Stronger swimming, etc.
Things I always see people saying about megalodon on Reddit and YouTube:
"Megalodon isn't fat anymore!"
"Megalodon wasn't skinny!"
"Megalodon looked like a lemon shark!"
"If megalodon had been that slender, it wouldn't have been able to hunt whales!"
It's all so confusing, seriously.
@Evoincarnate I never understood the lemon shark interpretation of Megalodon. It's a giant Lamniform (Mackeral Shark) adapted to hunt whales. Why would it have a scronny ass build?
@tomal_cetology Oh I 100% agree. 9 times outta 10, Megalodon would want to avoid a high risk prey item that could lethally injure it in return.
I was pointing out that the comparison between an Orca & a Great White simply isn't applicable to Megalodon & Livyatan at all.
One problem with that.
An adult orca is like 3x the mass of a Great White. Livyatan has no such advantage.
Paired with the fact that Megalodon is biologically designed to hunt whales, with the greatest bite force ever, one well placed bite to the torso would cripple the whale
@Evoincarnate Hey umm if orcas today quite literally slaughter great whites *because they can* honestly tell me what do you think whales like livyatan,the animal with the largest aquatic teeth in earths history,would be doing to megalodon in the past. Really think about this.
@Evoincarnate Yep. Livyatan isn't 3-4 times the mass of a Megalodon.
On the contrary, Megalodon is significantly larger than Livyatan no matter what way you spin it.
An AVERAGE adult Meg was in that 50-60 ton range & larger than Livyatan.
For anyone bringing up this point I have to remind you orcas can do that because they vastly outsize gws
Livyatan does NOT have this luxury
“But pods” but nothing
When looking at actual APPLICABLE ecological analogs the cetaceans AVOID the mammal eating sharks