For thalassophobes like myself, the idea of potentially encountering a 6-meter great white shark during my next ocean swim (an unlikely, but real, possibility) fills me with dread. The prospect of encountering one 3 times that size requires a lie down and a stiff drink. Fortunately for me (and literally everybody else), that horrifying prospect is impossible. The megalodon has been extinct for millions of years. Or has it? There are many who believe the megalodon may still be lurking in the depths of our oceans.
What Is A Megalodon?
A bloody big shark. In fact, the largest shark, and one of the largest fish, ever to live. The megalodon stalked the world’s oceans from around 15 to 3.6 million years ago. Scientists estimate that it could grow to between 15 and 20 metres in length, making it 3 times larger than the largest great white shark on record. Its jaws could likely open to around 3.5 metres wide, enough to swallow a cow whole. The reason these measurements are only estimates, however, is because the skeleton of the megalodon, like all modern sharks, is primarily composed of cartilage. Unlike bone, cartilage does not mineralise easily, preventing it from fossilising. The only parts of the megalodon that have been found are its 18cm-long teeth and some vertebrae. The teeth are made of dentine, a substance which fossilises well, and the vertebrae are made of very dense cartilage, which became calcified. It is therefore not really known exactly what the megalodon looked like, apart from the fact that it was very, very big.
What Does The Megalodon Look Like?
The megalodon is often depicted as resembling an oversized great white, largely because they were long believed to have been closely related. More recent studies have proved this to be unlikely, and the megalodon has gone from being classified as a member of the Carcharodon genus (like the great white) to a member of the genus Odotus, all of which are now extinct. In other words, we have no living descendants of the megalodon to compare it to, nor do we know what its closest relative may look like.
The megalodon’s teeth are very broad, solid and serrated. Modern sharks with similar teeth are meat-eaters, feeding on marine mammals, like seals, dolphins and whale carcasses. Fossils from ancient whales show that the same was likely true of the megalodon. Whale bones have been found with deeply ingrained bite marks matching megalodon teeth, and in some cases, actual teeth still embedded in them. We know that megalodon was an apex predator, so it likely would have eaten anything it could, even including other sharks. It would have been fast, relatively streamlined and powerfully-built, perhaps like a great white, though with a broader, flatter snout, and possibly longer pectoral fins to support its massive body.
Evidence The Megalodon Is Still Alive
- Over 80% of the ocean has never been explored
In fact, we know more about the surfaces of Mars and the moon than we do about our own planet’s oceans. It is impossible to say what so-far-undiscovered creatures may be lurking out there, and we will likely discover many new species in years to come (assuming we don’t pollute them into extinction before then). - Science has been wrong before
There have been numerous occasions in which animals believed to be extinct have been discovered to be alive and well. One such example is the coelacanth, a fish thought to have gone extinct some 65 million years ago (considerably further back than the megalodon). It was rediscovered in 1938 off the eastern coast of South Africa, shockingly, alive. The reason the coelacanth was believed to be extinct until then is because it simply disappeared from the fossil record. Not a single fossil had been found which was younger than 65 million years old. So how is this possible if coelacanths have been happily swimming around our oceans this whole time? It is believed that, until 65 million years ago, coelacanths lived in areas which favoured fossilisation. Since then, the waters they have been inhabiting make fossilisation very difficult, so no evidence of their existence survived long enough to be discovered. If the coelacanth can live completely unnoticed for millions of years, surely the megalodon can too? - Sightings
There have been countless sightings of so-called “monster sharks” throughout the world for centuries. A massive shark has been repeatedly sighted off Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Witnesses claim the shark resembles a great white, only black, between 30 and 60 feet long and with an unusually large tail. So many of the local fisherman have allegedly seen the shark that it has been nicknamed the “Black Demon” of Cortez. There have also been several sightings of enormous sharks off the coasts of Australia. In 1918, a group of fishermen were reportedly terrorised by a 100-foot long shark, which stole their crayfish pots and destroyed much of their gear. The men, all experienced fishermen, reported seeing the same thing: an enormous, pure white shark. They were all convinced the creature was a shark, not a whale, and were so shaken by the encounter that they refused to return to the water. A similar sighting was made in the 1960’s, when the crew of a fishing boat allegedly saw an oversized shark close to their boat. They, too, were experienced fishermen, and apparently too embarrassed to discuss what they saw, for fear of not being believed and ridiculed. - Recent teeth found
A pair of megalodon teeth were found on the ocean floor by the crew of a British ship, the HMS Challenger, in the late 1800s. In 1959, a member of Queen Mary College in London, Dr. W. Tschernezky, analysed the teeth and estimated them to be around 11,000 and 24,000 years old, respectively. However, the method he used to do this, known as magnesium oxide dating, is now considered to be somewhat unreliable.
Why The Megalodon Probably Isn’t Still Alive
- It’s huge.
Unlike the coelacanth, the megalodon is a massive predator. Massive predators need to eat. A lot. The megalodon was known to have preyed upon whales, dolphins and other large ocean dwellers. If it has been living and hunting in our oceans all this time, we would expect to see at least some evidence of this, such as carcasses, or bite marks on prey which managed to escape. It also seems unlikely that clash-of-the-titans-style megalodon-whale hunts could go unnoticed for so long (and certainly disappointing if they have). - Sharks have a LOT of teeth
The megalodon, like modern sharks, had multiple sets of teeth throughout its lifetime, constantly shedding and replacing them as they get old or damaged. If the megalodon were still around, we would expect to be finding their teeth washing up on shores or littering ocean floors, like we do with other sharks. - Megalodons liked warm water
In fact, adult megalodons actually needed to live in warm water to survive. This means that they would not have inhabited deeper water, which is almost invariably cold. The chance that enormous sharks could be living in warm, shallow waters (the kind we like to swim in) completely unnoticed for so long is almost non-existent. - Many of the sightings are wrong
Many, if not most, “megalodon sightings” have been proven to be cases of misidentification of basking sharks. Basking sharks are harmless filter feeders, but can grow up to 12 meters in length, and, from above, could be mistaken for a massive great white. Even sightings which cannot be categorically proven wrong may very well be unreliable. People make mistakes, particularly when they are in the ocean, out of their element. - Scientists agree the megalodon is extinct
When virtually every expert, every person who has dedicated their lives to seeking truth and learning about sharks and their history, the oceans, fossils and everything else surrounding the possible existence of the megalodon, is in agreement that it died out millions of years ago, it’s sort of difficult to argue it didn’t.
Is The Megalodon Still Alive?
While there are many who fervently wish to one day see a living megalodon (rather them than me), it is highly unlikely that this will happen. There is no real evidence that the megalodon still exists, and plenty that it doesn’t. Of course, we can never say for certain that it isn’t still swimming around somewhere, because, while it is possible to prove something does exist, it is essentially impossible to prove something doesn’t. So who knows? Perhaps one day we will discover a live megalodon. Perhaps we will also discover a flying spaghetti monster orbiting the Earth. What is certain, however, is that we still have much to discover in our oceans, but if pollution and climate change continue at their current rates, we are running out of time to do so.