Megalodon is about 3.4× longer by these reference values.
Megalodon uses a 15.3 m upper reference, compared with 4.45 m for Shortfin mako. Megalodon's weight reference is about 84× heavier.
ON THE SAME SCALE
Human. Bus. Whale.
Pick your reference.
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.
THE NUMBERS
Side by side.
WHAT SETS THEM APART
More than a size contest.
Length and weight
Megalodon is represented by evidence-based upper estimate 14.1–15.3 m / 46–50 ft; Shortfin mako by reported to about 4.45 m / 14.6 ft. No complete skeleton exists; 15.3 m is an evidence-based maximum from museum specimens, not a tape measurement. Record length and mass do not necessarily describe the same individual.
Habitat and diet
Megalodon: Warm and temperate seas worldwide; large marine mammals, turtles and fishes. Shortfin mako: Open tropical and temperate oceans; fast fishes, squid and other sharks.
Bite evidence
Megalodon: Finite-element scaling produced a range, not a directly measured bite. Shortfin mako: No directly comparable maximum bite-force estimate is used.
Fossils change the certainty
At least one animal is known from fossils. Fossil length, weight and bite estimates depend on which living analogues and scaling equations researchers choose.
TRACE THE CLAIMS