Are Prehistoric Monster Sharks Still Swimming Our Oceans?

The prehistoric Megalodon shark is one of the largest vertebrate predators in history. With 7-inch teeth and measuring up to 54 feet long, the monster sharks were three times the size of current Great Whites. They lived from around 28 million to 1.6 million years ago, when they were wiped out during the Pleistocene extinction.

While some people aren’t so sure about that last part, there’s no direct evidence to support the possibility that Megalodons may still be with us. As reported in a June 27 I Fucking Love Science post, a 1942 photograph of what might have been an enormous shark next to a submarine was proved to be a fake. Other sketches and eyewitness accounts are unverified. And while examples of the Coelacanth, a 15-foot species of fish previously thought to be extinct, have been caught and spotted, there’s no correlation to Megalodons. Some say the monster sharks could be living in great ocean depths, but fossil evidence shows they preferred shallower waters heavily populated by their prey. Finally, the I Fucking Love Science post says if Megalodons were still swimming about, we’d have evidence of bite marks on whales and other likely prey.

So, sorry folks. As cool as the notion of living monster sharks might me, it’s probably not a possibility.