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Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution

Bazzi, Mohamad ; Siversson, Mikael ; Wintner, Sabine ; Newbrey, Michael ; Payne, Jonathan L. ; Campione, Nicolás E. ; Roberts, Aubrey J. ; Natanson, Lisa J. ; Hall, Stephen LU and Blake, Tatianna , et al. (2025) In Communications Biology 8(1).
Abstract

Lamniform sharks are amongst the largest-bodied extant fishes and have an evolutionary history spanning ~135 million years (Ma). Fossils correlate their initial development of mega-body size (≥ 6 m) with ecological radiation as marine top-predators during the later part of the mid-Cretaceous (after the late Albian, ~100 Ma). Here, we push back this earliest appearance of gigantic lamniforms by ~15 Ma (upper Aptian, ~115 Ma) with the discovery of enormous cardabiodontid shark remains from northern Australia. We compiled a comprehensive dataset of vertebral centrum diameters versus maximum body length measurements for living lamniforms to calculate length and mass estimates of extinct taxa using both intraspecific and interspecific... (More)

Lamniform sharks are amongst the largest-bodied extant fishes and have an evolutionary history spanning ~135 million years (Ma). Fossils correlate their initial development of mega-body size (≥ 6 m) with ecological radiation as marine top-predators during the later part of the mid-Cretaceous (after the late Albian, ~100 Ma). Here, we push back this earliest appearance of gigantic lamniforms by ~15 Ma (upper Aptian, ~115 Ma) with the discovery of enormous cardabiodontid shark remains from northern Australia. We compiled a comprehensive dataset of vertebral centrum diameters versus maximum body length measurements for living lamniforms to calculate length and mass estimates of extinct taxa using both intraspecific and interspecific regression models. Our results show that mega-body size is an ancient lamniform trait, with the Australian cardabiodontid being around 6–8 m and over 3 tons. This rivalled some of the largest coeval marine reptiles and suggests that lamniforms invaded top-predator niches from an early stage in their adaptive evolution.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Communications Biology
volume
8
issue
1
article number
1499
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:41139160
  • scopus:105019693349
ISSN
2399-3642
DOI
10.1038/s42003-025-08930-y
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
cf5fcf84-68e3-4662-90b6-35220643ae16
date added to LUP
2025-12-10 13:00:09
date last changed
2025-12-11 03:00:07
@article{cf5fcf84-68e3-4662-90b6-35220643ae16,
  abstract     = {{<p>Lamniform sharks are amongst the largest-bodied extant fishes and have an evolutionary history spanning ~135 million years (Ma). Fossils correlate their initial development of mega-body size (≥ 6 m) with ecological radiation as marine top-predators during the later part of the mid-Cretaceous (after the late Albian, ~100 Ma). Here, we push back this earliest appearance of gigantic lamniforms by ~15 Ma (upper Aptian, ~115 Ma) with the discovery of enormous cardabiodontid shark remains from northern Australia. We compiled a comprehensive dataset of vertebral centrum diameters versus maximum body length measurements for living lamniforms to calculate length and mass estimates of extinct taxa using both intraspecific and interspecific regression models. Our results show that mega-body size is an ancient lamniform trait, with the Australian cardabiodontid being around 6–8 m and over 3 tons. This rivalled some of the largest coeval marine reptiles and suggests that lamniforms invaded top-predator niches from an early stage in their adaptive evolution.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bazzi, Mohamad and Siversson, Mikael and Wintner, Sabine and Newbrey, Michael and Payne, Jonathan L. and Campione, Nicolás E. and Roberts, Aubrey J. and Natanson, Lisa J. and Hall, Stephen and Blake, Tatianna and Kear, Benjamin P.}},
  issn         = {{2399-3642}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Communications Biology}},
  title        = {{Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08930-y}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s42003-025-08930-y}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}