Megalodon is dead. This shouldn’t come as a shock. The fossil record is clear that after about 14 million years of feasting on marine mammals, the 50-foot-long, “mega-toothed” shark exited the evolutionary stage by two and a half million years ago.

But the monstrous shark is too good to let go. If a great white shark is scary, the supersized version is even more thrilling, and despite our ancient fear of sleek, hungry shapes slicing through the water, people really want Carcharocles megalodon to still be alive somewhere in the deep. Peter Benchley toyed with the idea that the great shark might still be out there in JAWS, cryptozoological lore has often spoken of massive