Are white sharks really mako's?

[loquat149]

Article in the NY Times cites a study published 3 years ago suggesting great whites are not derived from megs, but rather makos. I haven't seen the primary article yet, so can't comment on the relative merits of their phenetic vs. cladistic approach.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/science/15creature.html?em

Dave

 

[drbill]

Based on my understanding of current chrondrichthian taxonomy, the two groups are indeed related. Of course based on my personal observations there are fairly obvious physical differences between the great whites and short fin makos. I never had the "pleasure" of observing a Megalodon (I haven't been diving THAT long!).

 

[loquat149]

Based on my understanding of current chrondrichthian taxonomy, the two groups are indeed related. Of course based on my personal observations there are fairly obvious physical differences between the great whites and short fin makos. I never had the "pleasure" of observing a Megalodon (I haven't been diving THAT long!).

You mean systematics, no? I think the idea is of the 3 taxa, which two have the most recent common ancestor. BTW, we see Meg teeth all the time on 'our' west coast.

Dave

 

[Underwater Ogre]

I never had the "pleasure" of observing a Megalodon (I haven't been diving THAT long!).

I had hunch you hadn't been diving that long...thanks for confirming it. Someone owes me a twenty!!

U/O

 

[Splitlip]

I can eat Mako without getting sick. Other "sharks" I have tried won't stay down.

Never tried GW.

 

[Hoffy]

loquat149, The article is correct. There is a grad student at UF working on this. I believe Mark Renz new book "Desert Sharks" covers it also, bought it have not read it yet.

 

[loquat149]

loquat149, The article is correct. There is a grad student at UF working on this. I believe Mark Renz new book "Desert Sharks" covers it also, bought it have not read it yet.

Yes, in a featured article published last March in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, EHRET et al. concluded "The fossil record of lamnoid sharks preserved in the Pisco Formation demonstrates that the modern white shark is more closely related to Isurus (I. hastalis) than it is to the species Carcharodon megalodon, and the latter is therefore best allocated to the genus Carcharocles."

 

[drbill]

Of course unless they can locate some preserved C. megalodon DNA and use it, I'm not going to take classifications based on physical structure as 100% accurate. Even those based on molecular genetics are still judgment calls by humans, although most are far more accurate than our older methods.