Jaws- Myth? Or still lurking in the deep blue sea?

Carcharodon Megalodon lived in pre-historic times and is the ancestor of the modern great white shark. It has been estimated that this shark was as long as 55-65 feet in length according to fossilized teeth found. Many scientists say it is now extinct but the catch is that they can not provide an accurate time frame for the animal’s extinction. Is it possible that these large sharks could still be possibly lurking in the deep ocean? I mean they still find giant squids washed up on shores, and whales washed up on beaches with fatal wounds that are to large to have been caused by one animal. Our ocean’s are still very mysterious places. If a fish (coelacanth) can remain undisturbed for 60 million years in the deep sea, then I see no reason why Megalodon couldn’t still be lurking in the depths of the ocean as well. It has no real predators, doesn’t suffer from cancer or age like most animals, and has an abundant food environment. Maybe Peter Benchley’s story of a giant shark isn’t as far fetched as some may think. I know I will certainly think twice before going back in the water.

Posssible? Well yes it is possible, Look at the Coelacanth, a fish that was believed to have been extinct the last 66 million years ago but has been found to be alive and well. I saw one back in the 80's at the Tokyo Aquarium.

There is a great deal of argument as to if the Carcharodon Megalodon has survived. I am including 2 sites for you to reference. One is Pro for the possibility of Carcharodon Megalodon still being around today. META-RELIGION
The next one contains arguments against thier survival
No Megladon Survival
There is much that we do not know of our planet and the life that it contains.
I do not think that they are still around but that can change if they discover one. I beleive that the latest fossil is said to have been around 10,000 years old so... maybe ?

I've heard before, that non-fossilized megaladon teeth had been found, though I never saw it anywhere substantiated....

I think it's pretty possible, but perhaps not probable. From what we know of sharks though, they don't particularly go super deep. No reason that it couldn't have done so and adapted I suppose.... I'd rather not meet up with a 60' great white though...thanks...

If I recall though, Benchley's story was loosely based on the real event of a rogue great white who went on a killing spree causing multiple deaths over the course of days, by swimming into a fresh water (but still fairly salty) river...could be off on that of course.

Originally posted by Gazrok
I've heard before, that non-fossilized megaladon teeth had been found, though I never saw it anywhere substantiated....

I think it's pretty possible, but perhaps not probable. From what we know of sharks though, they don't particularly go super deep. No reason that it couldn't have done so and adapted I suppose.... I'd rather not meet up with a 60' great white though...thanks...

If I recall though, Benchley's story was loosely based on the real event of a rogue great white who went on a killing spree causing multiple deaths over the course of days, by swimming into a fresh water (but still fairly salty) river...could be off on that of course.

Well there's no anatomical reason why sharks can't go super deep especially if they adapted through thousand of years to do so. Benchley's story was based off of The New Jersey Killer which interestingly enough I watched a show not to long ago, that disproved that the shark responsible for those attacks could not have been a Great White due to the salinity factor. Great Whites need salt water and can not swim that far in fresh water and survive. They actually believe that a bull shark was resposible for the attack. Bull sharks are known to go to fresh water to breed and then swim back out to sea when they are finished and can thrive quite well in fresh water. Bull Sharks are a far nastier shark than the great white anyway and responsible for hundreds of attacks on humans.

Originally posted by kenshiro2012
Posssible? Well yes it is possible, Look at the Coelacanth, a fish that was believed to have been extinct the last 66 million years ago but has been found to be alive and well. I saw one back in the 80's at the Tokyo Aquarium.

There is a great deal of argument as to if the Carcharodon Megalodon has survived. I am including 2 sites for you to reference. One is Pro for the possibility of Carcharodon Megalodon still being around today. META-RELIGION
The next one contains arguments against thier survival
No Megladon Survival
There is much that we do not know of our planet and the life that it contains.
I do not think that they are still around but that can change if they discover one. I beleive that the latest fossil is said to have been around 10,000 years old so... maybe ?

Wow! Thanks for the stupendous links. I've never heard of Metareligion, that is fascinating. The latest fossilized tooth they found was only 10,000 years old, that is correct. I think that perhaps if we sent automated machines into some of the deeper unexplored areas that we would probably find a tooth much younger than 10,000 years ago. I think it's possible. Like you yourself said, look at the coelacanth.

The New Jersey Killer is now thought to have been a Bull Shark which also maybe responsibile for a majority of the Great White Shark attacks that have been reported. The Bull shark has the ability to swim in fresh water they have a special gland near the tail that allows them to recycle the salt in their bodies thus not suffer the effects that the great white would.
Great Whites May Be Taking the Rap for Bull Shark Attacks

Also as to the megladon, all knowledge of them shows that they too needed salt water to survive and thus would not have been capable of the New Jersey attacks.
Sorry.

Given that we've really only explored about 15% of our oceans (and only have topography of the ocean floor through satelite and infrared imaging), there's probably thousands of lifeforms, if not millions, that are as yet undiscovered or not actually extinct (though currently thought to be). I see no reason why a shark such as the megalodon couldn't still exist.

I have been interested in megalodon for years, I have read anything i could get my hands on about it. (including the fictional book MEG). Like you i see no reason why this shark is not thriving. There have been sightings of some people who have claimed to see zeuglodons(snake-whale),Plesiosaurs all of which should be extinct. Unfortuenately, I only know of 1 story that could possibly be Megalodon and not attributed to a whale shark. (sightings of people who claim to see meg. and say it is yellow with brown spots are mistaking a whale shark)
the story i know of takes place in 1918, off the coast of melbourne australia, when crayfish fisherman were making their rounds when a shark of "immense porportions" grabbed the crayfish pots and took it moorings and all. They said it was ghostly white and some of the crew said it was 315 ft. long(impossible) and some say it was as big as the wharf they were on (100 ft.). Whatever it was the men refused to go back to sea for days.

An extremely large possiblity that this creature does exist. Just the thought of how vast the oceans are, theres no way of knowing for sure.

Originally posted by jeepin4x4girl
An extremely large possiblity that this creature does exist. Just the thought of how vast the oceans are, theres no way of knowing for sure.

Not really "extremely large"... They shouldnt have that much different behaviour from other big sharks, and thus would have been noted by now. Sure they could have adapted for deep ocean living... But its a really big if situation there.

Its is very possible that Megladon is still roaming the oceans. Thats one of the reasons I don't like to go swimming in the oceans.

Channel 4 did a show on this about 2/3 years ago, I was about 15/16 at the time of it.

Basically, they went to an area in Asia not far from where the Tsunami was. They went and interviewed hundreds of peoples who would not go fishing in a certain area, they then did the same in Australia. All of the fishermen described what would be a Meg and was far too large to be a great white. Several women had lost husbands, etc, etc, I'll try and find information on this for you and see what I can find but it was very convincing.

The amount of eye witnesses, marks left on boats, etc, made it likely that it was something else - on one occasion it had taken a chunk out of a large fishing boat, leaving massive bite marks - bigger then any known shark.

They put it down ot being either a freak Great White or a Meg, but couldn't proove it as nobody in the areas would take them out on boats to where the sightings were.

I Think Megalodons still exist, but they have been driven into the depths by mankind. We've explored so little of the ocean, Im sure there are plenty of places to hide for a monster like that. Speaking of Great Whites, Majesco Games is working on a new PC game for 2005 Fall release based on the 1975 film, Jaws. In the game, you'll play as a great white shark on a mission to protect your home from underwater drillers.

Here are a couple of pics, I hope its ok to post them here:




Here are some of the game features:

-Players take control of Jaws the Great White Shark while playing out themes and in locations from the JAWS film universe

-More than 10 meticulously detailed, destructible environments, each with unique designs and intense action

-Unleash real-time damage on intelligent enemies, vehicles and structures

-Perform a variety of stunning underwater, surface and air attacks via a user friendly combat system

-Dismemberment engine provides 25+ points of disconnection allowing for game characters and objects to be torn apart piece by piece

-Follow story-based missions or choose to freely roam the island and its surroundings causing havoc

-Encounter multiple side missions/challenges including timed destruction, stealth, chase and others

-Face fearsome arena bosses including killer whales, powerful boats and more

-See your victims before they know you're coming and target lock on enemies from afar with Shark Vision

-Created by Appaloosa Interactive, developer of the award-winning Ecco the Dolphin series.


Maximu§




[edit on 103030p://333 by LA_Maximus]

It's hard to tell what "giants" could still lurk undetected in the depths of the open ocean. If this shark feeds like a great white though, I would think that we would have found some fom of evidence of its existence. There is much exploring left to do, in our oceans, so I guess it is possible that we could still be surprised. One things for certain though, if they find that this monster still lurks in our oceans I will never set out on the sea again in anything smaller than a cruise ship.

I think i have heard about the stories of a massive shark near Australia and that area. It's nicnamed "lord of the deep". Also do you think few people know about it because most that encounter it dont live to tell the tale.

I read the link arguing against the existence of the megalodon and found it to be a very well reasoned, supported argument.
The metareligion article contains no sources.

C'mon even the anti-megalodon site had the courage to post the evidence for.

According to "A Critical Evaluation of the Supposed Contemporary
Existence of Carcharodon megalodon" it seems that all the stories of unfossilized megaladon teeth were cases of non-paleontologists making inaccurate conclusions. There exist no fossilized megalodon teeth.

" It is thus unsurprising that the proponents of C. megalodon survival used this evidence as another reason to believe that C. megalodon could still exist.

These proponents, however, are relying on a paper published nearly 40 years ago. Researchers now believe that this and all other claims of post-Pliocene C. megalodon teeth (some of which are more convincing than Tschernezky’s work) are erroneous, representing reworked material from older deposits (Applegate and Espinosa-Arrubarrena 1996; John Bruner pers. comm.; Henry Mollet pers. comm.; David Ward unpubl. data). This means that C. megalodon teeth have been eroded from pre-Pleistocene deposits and redeposited in younger strata, such as those from the Pleistocene. Whereas reworked fossil bones often show wear from the process, shark teeth (and vertebrate teeth in general) are very durable structures that can withstand high pressures, erosive forces and long-distance transport. Their durability makes it difficult to determine if they have been reworked from older deposits. For example, teeth of fossil sharks reworked into present day beach deposits in southern England are microscopically identical in sharpness to teeth of present-day sharks (Darren Naish, pers. comm.)."

The megaladon lived in coastal food-rich areas, like the great white who is considered a cousin. If any had survived we would know.

"Simply put, all available evidence suggests that C. megalodon inhabited tropical waters and, like the extant white shark, was a coastal species (Purdy 1996). It was not a deep-sea inhabitant that fed on giant squids (Architeuthis sp.)"

In conclusion I shall leave it to Mr. Roesch,

"The suggestion by some researchers and cryptozoologists that C. megalodon has survived to the present-day lacks any acceptable supporting evidence. Furthermore, the idea conflicts with current paleontological and ecological knowledge. The case of C. megalodon survival can thus be safely classified as a popular myth without any basis in fact. Pending further, substantial and tenable evidence, the question of C. megalodon’s continued existence should provisionally be considered answered: the shark is dead. In the opinion of this researcher, the question of C. megalodon survival warrants no further serious attention."

However improbable though, there is that small chance that it's still there, or even more likely a new species of the same size that is adapted to deep ocean life.

We don't know everything but I am always leary of sources that have no sources.

I think that the idea can not be ruled out that the Megalodon may still be roaming the oceans, just because they haven't found any non-fossilized teeth simply means that they may be looking in the wrong places. The most recent fossilized tooth they found was only 10,000 years old which contradicted the original estimated date of extinction. I think that perhaps marine biologists who study sharks, esp. Great Whites should get together with Whale biologists and study the migration routes of whales. I think this would give shark biologists a better idea where to look for the Megalodon. I mean whales a intelligent creatures and if the Megalodon eats whales, I would think that the whales would try and avoid the area in which the Megalodon resides.

Ok, there is a polynesian myth about a giant white shark they named lord of the deep. I cant find enough info on this, can anyone find out more info?

All anyone can do is offer an opinion, because noone knows, and anyone claiming otherwise has been smokin reefer.

I would say the chances of a megalo being alive today are slim to none.

They require enormous sustenance to keep their engines running, and that sort of abundancy is only found in coastal areas, fatty, plentiful meals like seals and mackerel are not found in the depths of the ocean.

The lack of recent fossil evidence isn't conclusive, but it is a good piece of circumstantial evidence.

Then of course there are the eyewitness testimonials from frightened fishermen, having been a fisherman, I can say that 'Fish Tales' are common, usually false, and constructed largely for amusement rather than scientific purposes.

I think the megalo is a really interesting animal, and it is a shame that it's extinct, they would be a joy to observe in the wild.

Also, one final note; someone mentioned bull sharks. Interesting tidbit: native people in polynesia (and perhaps other places) used to sacrifice people, usually the dead, to bull sharks living in the estuaries and rivers near their villages. They sacrificed many, many people over the course of centuries - perhaps the bull shark has ancestral memory contributing to a taste for man-flesh?

I'm only wary of three sharks, the bull, the tiger, and the wobegong (sp?). The first two are vicious and always hungry, the latter is just like a stingray - not particularly agressive, but hard to spot and dangerous when provoked (stepped on).

Great whites got a bad reputation, but they consume very few people every year. The number one killer of all time is actually the blue shark, that's right, the humble, unassuming blue shark. They followed in the wake of ships, especially during WW2, and consumed those who fell overboards or the survivors of torpedo attacks. They fed on garbage dropped from the ship, and so when people ended up in the water in large numbers, the blue sharks arrived promptly for the buffet.