The remotely operated submersible Hercules has made a remarkable discovery of the megalodon, a massive sea monster, at depths exceeding 3,000 meters.
According to Live Science, the deep-sea exploration device from the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) was investigating an uncharted seamount near Johnston Atoll when it uncovered a giant monster tooth embedded in the mountain.
The search area is located in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,300 km south of Hawaii, USA.
A view from the remotely operated submersible showing the process of extracting the monster tooth from the seamount – (Photo: OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST)
The seamount where the tooth was discovered is also a previously unknown deep-sea mountain, and at that time, the OET submersible was collecting samples from the surrounding waters.
The tooth was sampled on-site and later confirmed to be from the megalodon.
The megalodon is an extinct “monster” shark, with the largest individuals believed to have reached lengths of up to 20 meters, roughly three times the size of the largest modern great white sharks.
They dominated the Earth’s ocean food chain from about 20 million years ago until their extinction around 3.6 million years ago.
Megalodon was one of the largest and most dangerous sea monsters of all time, with a body and predatory prowess comparable to that of the marine reptiles from the “Age of Dinosaurs.”
Associate Professor Nicola Straube from the University of Bergen Museum (Norway), a co-author of the study, described the tooth excavated at a depth of 3,000 meters as an astounding discovery.
“This fossil was found at a very remote deep-sea location, where megalodon fossils are rarely recorded,” said Professor Straube.
This also suggests that the previously unknown seamount could serve as the burial site of this megalodon.
According to co-author Jurrgen Pollenspocl from the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (Germany), this fossil provides important insights into the distribution of this marine super-monster.
The specimen indicates that ancient monster sharks were not purely coastal species but migrated across broader oceanic areas, similar to modern great white sharks.
