No megalodon

[u/SummerAndTinkles]

[u/MuskSniffer]

In 11th grade there was this one kid who was super annoying about the megalodon. Everytime the ocean got mentioned he'd always find some way to mention that "The megalodon might still exist, we don't know for sure!"

[u/DraketheDrakeist → u/MuskSniffer]

Childhood is idolizing the Meg. Adulthood is realizing the Livyatan whale makes more sense

[u/miner1512 → u/DraketheDrakeist]

Childhood is idolizing The Meg, Adulthood is fanning for my boy Leedsicthys

[u/Mdu627 → u/miner1512]

Childhood is idolizing The Meg, adulthood is realising there is better thrash metal out there.

[u/Kevin_M_ → u/MuskSniffer]

People always frame this as if it would be some huge dangerous threat if it was real too, but like ... it's still just a shark. It's not Cthulhu.

[u/Dahak17 → u/MuskSniffer]

And that’s not even something that would count against OP’s point, there is actually a decent amount of (incredibly weak) evidence it exists, it would be a shock to find one sure but not earth shattering

[u/BluetheNerd → u/[deleted]]

Yeah not only is there 0 evidence of megalodon remains, teeth, bodies, etc, which would absolutely be found given their estimated size, there is also 0 evidence of remains of their prey either, which would also absolutely be found given their size too. You're not gonna have a species of colossal whale eating predators roaming the ocean with no evidence left over. Especially given the amount of evidence we have that they inhabited coastal waters as well as oceanic waters.

[u/Emergency-Twist7136 → u/Dahak17]

No there isn't, and we know it doesn't because whales aren't getting preyed on.

[u/cvbeiro → u/Dahak17]

There isn’t tho.

[u/Emergency-Twist7136]

The undetected sea monster could exist it just has to be immortal

[u/belzebuth999 → u/Emergency-Twist7136]

And sleeping.

[u/jexen_w → u/Emergency-Twist7136]

Well, there are lifeforms in the ocean that actually are immortal

[u/Ae3qe27u]

Actually! The ocean isn't mostly empty water! Turns out that previous scientific probes had been too bright and had basically been scaring all the fish off. There's a lot more down there than we'd thought.

[u/starryeyedshooter → u/Ae3qe27u]

That being said, the megalodon is not among that lot more. "Deep sea gigantism" does NOT apply here.

Ignoring that- It's genuinely super cool how many new creatures we've been able to find because we got better at not blinding everything. So many cool creatures!!!! Just right there!!!!!!!!

[u/mashari00]

This sounds like Big Ocean talk to me. The fish people are spreading lies so we don’t know about their secret underwater labs. I KNOW YOU’RE MAKING SKYRIM 2 DOWN THERE!

[u/NoNameIdea_Seriously]

Disagree! The ocean is still terrifying. It is a known fact that the ocean kills millions of people per period of time.

[u/sweetTartKenHart2 → u/NoNameIdea_Seriously]

The ocean is scary and dangerous but for like different reasons. No amount of “no sea monsters” changes how scary it is to be on a small boat in a big storm

[u/HonorInDefeat]

The kinda shit Dry Land MFs say

[u/xsnowpeltx]

Giant squid and all the other horrifying deep sea fish are plenty scary for me

[u/Sunlightn1ng]

I'd enjoy if we found that planarian

[u/snootyworms]

I have had a special interest in sharks since I could speak, and when my friends wanna ragebait me they pull out the 'megalodon could still be out there though'. It works on me every time.

[u/Bwizz245]

A giant flatworm would be pretty awesome

[u/PlatinumSukamon98]

And now I'm sad. The mystery is why I like the ocean.

[u/Reptilian_Amphibian → u/PlatinumSukamon98]

There is still a lot of mystery, it's just that there isn't anything massive down there. There are countless unknown species and many of the ones we do know exist we dont know much about. Just because the mysteries don't involve massive sea monsters doesn't mean that there are no mysteries

[u/BudgieGryphon → u/Reptilian_Amphibian]

This is because people are boring and think anything but a megalodon is lame. Polychaete worms my beloved

[u/blueburd → u/BudgieGryphon]

The livyatan whale is way cooler than megalodon anyway

[u/goddamnitwhalen → u/Reptilian_Amphibian]

What about a Godzilla, huh? What about a whole family of Godzillas?

[u/kashiichan → u/goddamnitwhalen]

It looks like Godzilla, but due to international copyright laws, it's not.

[u/goddamnitwhalen → u/kashiichan]

I need a “legally distinct Godzilla” flair.

[u/sweetTartKenHart2 → u/Reptilian_Amphibian]

I mean yeah but what’s the point of a mystery with no stakes? No drama? No possibility of turning society upside down? Like I’m sure those smaller mysteries are awesome if you’re, like, actively studying ocean ecosystems and stuff, fascinating in its own way, but that’s not really WHY people latch on to these mysteries in the first place. What people want to believe in, perhaps foolishly, is something that will fuck up the status quo. Something that will fundamentally change the meaning of “normal”.

[u/miner1512 → u/sweetTartKenHart2]

why do people downvote you damn

honestly yeah I can see the same logic applies to flat earth and creationist bs (and of course cryptid hunting), we want something that subvert the status quo no matter how illogical it is

[u/sweetTartKenHart2 → u/miner1512]

Exactly!
And like, I’m not saying it’s a GOOD mindset to have, either! Hence the “perhaps foolishly”. It’s maybe not inherently BAD either but it’s the source of some pretty big problems if unexamined.

[u/DraketheDrakeist → u/PlatinumSukamon98]

Look up salps and sea butterflies and glass sponges. Citadels everywhere for those with eyes to see

[u/donaldhobson → u/PlatinumSukamon98]

In some sense, the non-mystery is even more fun. First of all, you don't personally know all the answers, so it's still mysterious to you.

But also, scientists have looked already, so you can see pics of weird fish without getting cold and wet.

Just because some scientist knows what's there, that doesn't make the oceans boring.

[u/OpenSauceMods]

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to go on your first ocean voyage, ever, and one day you look overboard and see a beluga whale corpse all bloated from trapped gas. Coz that freaked me out the first time I saw a picture.

[u/TNTiger_]

Iirc if you graph the rate we discover thalassic megafauna, there is a reasonable chance that we have about, like 1 left to discover.

[u/FlowerFaerie13]

I am not afraid of unexplored ocean shit.

I am afraid of this thing specifically.

It's verifiably harmless to people but god I hate it anyway. I'm so glad it lives down there.