Daddy shark doo doo doo doo?
A post on Instagram about the supposed "discovery" is making waves right now because of the shark problem in US waters.
"On a recent shark research trip, we were all amused to see this shape show up on our fish finder for several minutes," researchers from the Atlantic Shark Institute wrote about the scary shape found in unnamed waters.
At first, they thought it was a Megalodon, an extinct shark from three million years ago that was the focus of the 2018 horror movie "Meg," which was based on the same-named book.
"Based on how long the image was, we thought the 'Meg' was about 50 feet long and weighed 40 tons!" the excited scientists wrote. A screenshot of the fish finder shows the huge mark, which looked like a giant shark with a dorsal fin.
Unfortunately, the scientists' excitement quickly faded when the mythical monster turned out to be a school of fish. In other words, it was a red herring.
“We waited for one of the rods to go off however, much to our disappointment, the shape started to transition into a large school of Atlantic Mackerel that hung around the boat for about 15 minutes,” lamented the disillusioned researchers. “So close, but so far! The Megalodon (Otodus megalodon), disappeared more than 3 million years ago and will likely stay that way, but, for a few minutes, we thought he had returned!”
Instagram viewers commiserated with the crestfallen shark enthusiasts.
“I got excited for 10 seconds,” said one, while another wrote, “Haha — that would’ve got my heart racing.”
“I was hopeful,” rued another armchair cryptozoologist. “Meg had a huge Boop there. Almost wish she was real. Almost.”
As of yet, no one has seen a Megalodon, also known as a Megatooth shark, which reportedly went extinct around 2.58 million years ago, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
The Megalodon is thought to have weighed up to 143,000 pounds and grown as long as 59 feet, which is three times as long as the largest great white sharks. As if that wasn't scary enough, the monster hunter was said to have had a 10 foot wide mouth that it used to eat whales and other big animals.Even though the shark itself has never been seen by humans, its huge fossilized teeth are fairly common. A South Carolina woman found one that weighed a pound in 2020.
Last year, cruise ship passengers were shocked when they saw a huge shark in the Atlantic Ocean, which many people on social media thought was a Megalodon. But some people thought the beast was a basking shark, a harmless filter feeder that is as big as a double-decker bus.