Modern Megalodon? Great White Shark Bigger Than ‘Shark Week’s’ Mega Shark ‘The Submarine’ Spotted

A potential megashark sighting has Discovery Channel ready to hunt for great white sharks in New Zealand, in hopes of finding an apex predator bigger than Shark Week’s submarine. But is this hunt merely another modern megalodon myth in the making?

In a related report by the Inquisitr, a tiger shark attack in the Philippines was notable merely because local fishermen caught a 1,300 pound tiger shark, but what they found inside its belly was enough to horrify the fishermen so much that they threw the body overboard and only kept the jaws. Meanwhile, a shark attack in Hawaii resulted in beaches being closed.

When Shark Week began earlier this year, critics claimed fiction had overcome fact, with the new so-called documentary about “The Submarine” shark being a modern megalodon the biggest hoax of them all. Fans were at first amazed by the amazing Submarine footage showing a boat sinking off the coast of South Africa, but then amazement turned to shock and anger when it was learned it was all fake Hollywood effects. Some were so angry that they discussed having a Discovery Channel boycott over Shark Week. Others turned the whole thing into a running joke, with people suggesting ideas for their next mockumentary.

Great white shark researcher Kina Scolay and his documentary team from Discovery Channel have taken their hunt for the modern megalodon to New Zealand this time around. While the megalodon is thought to have grown to a size of 18 meters, the next fish tale that Discovery Channel wants to tell is not quite that big. Still, it’s enough to put Submarine to shame, since this monster great white shark is estimated to be around 9.4 meters, while Submarine was estimated to be “only” around seven to nine meters in length. As a comparison, the largest great white shark world record is currently held by a great white caught in 1998 at Canada’s Prince Edward Island, which measured about six meters.

Mega shark sightings have apparently been made off of Stewart Island in New Zealand. So far, Scolay and his film crew have been spotting great white sharks in the 5.5 meter range, but what makes the experience scary is that they’re doing it completely in the dark.

“You’re in a cage at the bottom of the ocean a fair way down in the middle of the night,” said Scolay. “It’s black – completely black – except for our own lights and you’ve got a bunch of extremely aggressive sharks. These things are just coming out of the darkness and they’re super-big… there were quite a number of sharks there and they were all go. It’s one of the most full-on shark-filming dives I’ve ever had, hands down. You’ve got these massive creatures rushing at you and from the time they’re visible to the time they’re on top of you is a fraction of a second. You’re talking about a very large predator that eats things for a living.”

The reason Discovery Channel has traveled to New Zealand is because American shark expert Jeff Kurr says the great white shark population in the area has produced some true monsters.

“I spoke with a lot of fishermen and locals about what sharks are up to in the area,” said Kurr. “Many of them were telling me about a huge shark they would see on occasion. One man even stated he felt it was well over 30 feet long [9.4m]. We wanted to come out and see what was going on in these waters and whether it was true or just a legend. The best way to do that is to go down in our cages and look around.”

Although they did not find this modern megalodon down in the deep, Kurr says the great white sharks they spotted may be enough to match the current world record.

“It was quite spectacular. I think the sharks we saw in New Zealand were probably the largest sharks I’ve ever seen in 25 years of Shark Week,” he says. “It just intrigued me that here’s an area on the southern tip of New Zealand that is fairly remote and not a tonne of research has been done there. One of the sharks they came across was between 6 and 7m. It was a big, big animal. And just a beautiful, majestic animal, a shark that you think might be 50 or 60 years old. It was a one-of-a-kind creature.”

According to the New Zealand Herald, viewers will be able to see these great white sharks in action when Lair of the Mega Shark premieres during Shark Week on December 1 starting at 8:30 p.m.