It was a bombshell drop for a research team based at the Atlantic Shark Institute when they spotted an enormous shark-shaped blob during an underwater scanner near the New England coastal region.
The afterimage of the Sonar scanner resembled a gigantic 50 feet megalodon shark which weighed over 40 tonnes but was later confirmed that it was a school of mackerel fish and not what it actually looked like.
The megalodon was a giant species of shark that went extinct some three million years ago. This species of shark is considered to be the largest carnivore of all time with 50 feet long and teeth as long as 7 inches.
The researchers in their report said that they witnessed an enormous red-shaped blob appearing on their fish finder. They tracked the image which resembled the way that it was heading toward their boat. The image shared on social media shows a head-to-tail view.
The report further said that the huge red image changed into thousands of small fish known by the name Atlantic Mackerel. The Mackerel are known for hunting in the huge pack and the image that was formed on the researcher’s Sonar was from one of their similar food hunts.
The researcher shared the image which was retrieved from the Sonar on Instagram with the caption, “Does the Meg exist? 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 researchers were disappointed as they discovered it wasn’t what they thought, they wrote, “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.”
Megalodons at a glance:
The great white sharks measured around 50 feet. As researchers have found that the Megalodons have inhabited the oceans around 20 million years ago.
The Megalodons are considered to be the greatest carnivore of all time with teeth measuring as huge as 7 inches.
Several studies and research says that the giant creature vanished from the earth at the end of the Pliocene Epoch, the time when the oceans were much colder than they are today, a story which dates back to some 3.6 million years back.