Ocean shark scanners solve mysterious 50-foot long 'megalodon' creature detected in Atlantic

The Atlantic Shark Institute has solved the mystery of a 40-ton shape that appeared on their scanner.

When shark scanners picked up a 50 feet long mass in the depths of the ocean, they had one question: "Does the Meg exist?"

For those not familiar, the Meg, or Megalodon, was the largest shark to have ever existed and can be dated back to 20 million years ago.

The Meg, which became the subject of a hilarious shark movie in 2018, is a giant-toothed mackerel shark.

According to the Natural History Museum: "O. megalodon was not only the biggest shark in the world but one of the largest fish ever to exist. Estimates suggest it grew to between 15 and 18 metres in length, three times longer than the largest recorded great white shark."

So, when researchers saw the giant mass on their shark scanner they thought they might have been on to something, with the team taking to Instagram to share their findings.

"On a recent shark research trip we were all amused to see this shape appear on our fish finder for several minutes. Based on the length of the image we estimated the 'Meg' to be about 50 feet long, weighing in at 40 tons!" the institute said.

However, after investigating further the team solved the - rather short-lived - mystery of the strange shape on their scanner. Spoiler... it wasn't the Meg.

"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."

The researchers were a little torn up, saying: "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!"

People on Instagram were quick to share their disappointment, with one writing: "I got excited for 10 seconds," while another added "Aww dang no hot girl Meg! Hehe."

A third wrote: "Haha - that would’ve got my heart racing" so it seems that everyone wants to find the Meg, except us, who will comfortably swim in peace knowing there's no ginormous shark in the water.

UNILAD has reached out to the Atlantic Shark Institute for comment.

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Topics: News, Animals, Science

Shola Lee

Shola Lee began her journalism career while studying for her undergraduate degree at Queen Mary, University of London and Columbia University in New York. She has written for the Columbia Spectator, QM Global Bloggers, CUB Magazine, UniDays, and Warner Brothers' Wizarding World Digital. Recently, Shola took part in the 2021 BAFTA Crew and BBC New Creatives programme before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news, trending stories, and features.