There is a major disagreement among scientists as to how C. megalodon should be classified. The controversy is that whether C. megalodon is a close relative of the extant great white shark or whether the two species are distant relatives. The trend among shark researchers is to dismiss the statement that C. megalodon is a close relative of the great white shark, in favor of citing convergent evolution as the reason for the dental similarity. Proponents of this school include paleontologists Henri Cappetta, John Long, Mikael Siverson, and David Ward.