SHARK VS SHARK

Lemon sharkvsOtodus obliquus

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

LivingNegaprion brevirostris×ExtinctOtodus obliquus
QUICK VERDICT

Otodus obliquus is about 3.0× longer by these reference values.

Otodus obliquus uses a 9.1 m upper reference, compared with 3 m for Lemon shark. 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
ALemon sharkcommonly to 3 m / 10 ft
BOtodus obliquusestimated to about 9.1 m / 30 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.

MeasureLemon sharkOtodus obliquus
Length referencecommonly to 3 m / 10 ftestimated to about 9.1 m / 30 ft
Weight referencereported to 250 kg / 551 lbNot reliably reconstructed
Bite forceNo dependable maximum foundUnknownNo defensible estimate usedUnknown
TimeShallow subtropical coasts and mangrovesabout 56–45 million years ago
DietFishes, rays and crustaceansLarge fishes and marine vertebrates
03

WHAT THE DATA CAN SAY

Size is not the whole animal.

Length and weight

Lemon shark is represented by commonly to 3 m / 10 ft; Otodus obliquus by estimated to about 9.1 m / 30 ft. The values are upper-end figures, not a typical adult profile. Soft-body dimensions are inferred from teeth and living analogues.

Bite evidence

Lemon shark: No standardized maximum is available for a fair cross-species comparison. Otodus obliquus: No species-specific model is used.

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

Decades of field research make this one of the best-studied coastal sharks. It belonged to the megatooth lineage that later produced megalodon.

04

TRACE THE CLAIMS

Sources and limits.

Lemon sharkFlorida MuseumOtodus obliquusPaleobiology DatabaseHow we standardize comparisonsRead the methodology →