Megalodon may have been up to 80 feet long, but the colossal extinct shark was also probably thinner than scientists previously thought, according to a new study.

Researchers had based some informed guesses about just how massive the megalodon - a prehistoric giant fish that hunted the oceans 13 million years to 15 million years ago - was by comparing existing fossils of the extinct species to bones of the present-day great white shark.

Everyone's favorite prehistoric shark may have been much sleeker and much larger than previously thought. A new study suggests that the megalodon wasn't as stocky as the great white shark, and that it could have reached over 24 m (80 ft) in length.