Estimates put Leedsichthys at 16.5m long. This was longer than Megalodon. Leedsichthys was a filter-feeder, not a predator.
A blue whale grows up to 110 feet. This is larger than Megalodon. A blue whale weighs more than Megalodon.
Leedsichthys was approximately 16.5m long. This was larger than Megalodon. Leedsichthys was a filter-feeder.
The blue whale is the largest animal ever. It grows bigger than any dinosaur.
The Livyatan whale was smaller than Megalodon.
Leedsichthys is the largest ray-finned fish ever.
Estimates put Leedsichthys at 16.5m long. This was larger than Megalodon. Leedsichthys was not a predator.
A blue whale grows bigger than Megalodon. It reaches 110 feet. It weighs more too.
Food chain changes likely caused Megalodon’s extinction. Prey like baleen whales declined. Competitors like white sharks increased.
Is the Leedsichthys bigger than the blue whale?
The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to have existed. It can reach lengths of 100 feet and weigh up to 190 tons.
The Leedsichthys, an extinct fish, is estimated to have grown to around 50-85 feet long. This rivals the blue whale in length but likely weighed far less at an estimated 60-340 tons. Though there is debate around its exact size, the Leedsichthys remains one of the largest extinct animals discovered.
Other massive extinct sea creatures include the megalodon shark at around 50-70 feet long and the Lilstock ichthyosaur estimated to be around 85 feet long. Still, they do not surpass the mammoth proportions of the blue whale.
While the Leedsichthys falls short of the blue whale’s total bulk, it earned the fitting nickname “the king of fish” from its giant form. Though not a predator itself, the Leedsichthys shared ancient oceans with powerful hunters like the megalodon shark.
Ultimately, the blue whale stands supreme as the largest and heaviest creature in Earth’s history. From its 180 ton weight to its thundering 188 decibel calls, the blue whale has made its mark as one of our planet’s most spectacular giants.
Why did Leedsichthys go extinct?
Leedsichthys went extinct due to overfishing and increased competition from other species. Additionally, a decrease in plankton populations, the main food source for Leedsichthys, made it difficult for the fish to survive.
It remains unknown whether Leedsichthys was indeed larger than a blue whale. Scientists suggest Leedsichthys went extinct primarily because of climate change.
Leedsichthys is the largest ray-finned fish amongst the largest fish known to have ever existed. However, the length of 35 meters for Leedsichthys is widely considered an overestimation.
First identified in the nineteenth century, the skeleton of Leedsichthys is only imperfectly known. This is caused by skeletal elements that remained cartilage and did not ossify. Those that did ossify were gradually hollowed out during the lifetime of Leedsichthys.
Leedsichthys was a giant filter feeder that lived when plankton populations boomed. However, krill populations plunged mysteriously causing the decline of this species.
While prehistoric, Leedsichthys was not a predator. It is the largest known bony fish, possibly bigger than the Megalodon shark. Estimates put Leedsichthys at 16.5 meters long. Leedsichthys fossils were first discovered in England in 1889 and described as problematic. The meaning of the name Leedsichthys Problematicus references the difficulty imagining how large this fish was.
Was Leedsichthys carnivorous?
Leedsichthys was a giant fish that grew to 17 meters in length and possibly weighed up to 40 tonnes. It was one of the largest creatures in the Jurassic seas, outweighing even the huge pliosaur Liopleurodon. Estimates put Leedsichthys at approximately 16.5m long, substantially larger than the average Megalodon. Citing the large “gill basket” and other fossils attributed to the creature, paleontologist David Martill in 1986 dubbed Leedsichthys “the world’s largest fish.” Despite it’s large size, the Jurassic seas were dangerous and Leedsichthys had no means of defending itself against large and persistent carnivores. Fossilized tooth-marks in its skeleton show that it would have been attacked by the marine crocodilian Metriorhynchus, but doubtless other large predators such as the pliosaur Liopleurodon, would have had a go to. By opening its mouth as wide as possible, this allows the Leedsichthys to swallow hundreds of gallons of seawater within a short period. These evidences most likely triggered the evolution of fish similar to the Leedsichthys which allows them to grow to super-sized proportions. Leedsichthys has over 40,000 teeth within its massive jaws! Though enormous, the Leedsichthys mostly fed on plankton, filtering it through its gills! An apex predator of the Oxford Clay seas large enough to attack Leedsichthys was the pliosaurid Liopleurodon. In 1999 Martill suggested that a climate change affected the distribution of prey animals and may have contributed to the extinction of predators such as Leedsichthys and Liopleurodon. Disabling a Leedsichthys by attacking it’s fragile fins and tail would have been fairly easy for such large carnivores, killing it would have taken much longer.