SHARK VS SHARK

Bull sharkvsHybodus

Length, weight and bite evidence—plus context from a human, city bus and blue whale. Every number below carries its uncertainty with it.

LivingCarcharhinus leucas×ExtinctHybodus hauffianus
QUICK VERDICT

Bull shark is about 1.60× longer by these reference values.

Bull shark uses a 4 m upper reference, compared with 2.5 m for Hybodus. A clean mass ratio is not shown because at least one weight is not reliably reconstructed.

01

ON THE SAME SCALE

Human. Bus. Whale.
Pick your reference.

RELATIVE LENGTH · 0–24 METERS
ABull sharkreported to 4 m / 13 ft
BHybodusabout 2.5 m / 8.2 ft
REFAdult human1.8 m · about 80 kg

Length bars use upper comparison values and do not show body depth, tail proportion or typical adult size. A long thresher tail, for example, does not equal whale-shark body mass.

02

THE NUMBERS

Side by side.

MeasureBull sharkHybodus
Length referencereported to 4 m / 13 ftabout 2.5 m / 8.2 ft
Weight referencereported to 316.5 kg / 698 lbNot reliably reconstructed
Bite force170–5,914 N across studied sizes and bite pointsModeledNo defensible estimate usedUnknown
TimeCoasts, estuaries and freshwaterabout 250–100 million years ago
DietFish, rays, turtles and other sharksFishes and hard-shelled prey
03

WHAT THE DATA CAN SAY

Size is not the whole animal.

Length and weight

Bull shark is represented by reported to 4 m / 13 ft; Hybodus by about 2.5 m / 8.2 ft. The 4 m figure is a reported maximum; typical mature animals are smaller. The genus spans a long interval and multiple species; this is a comparison reference.

Bite evidence

Bull shark: The upper value is a theoretical posterior bite for the largest specimen in a 73–285 cm study series—not a universal adult bite. Hybodus: Tooth form suggests diet, not an exact force.

Living versus extinct

At least one animal is known from fossils. Fossil length, weight and bite estimates depend on which living analogues and scaling equations researchers choose.

Ecology changes the matchup

Its freshwater range is exceptional among large coastal sharks. It was a shark-line relative, not a member of a living shark order.

04

TRACE THE CLAIMS

Sources and limits.

Bull sharkHabegger et al. (2012) + Florida MuseumHybodusNatural History MuseumHow we standardize comparisonsRead the methodology →