The Cryptid Zoo: Giant Sharks

A giant shark caught near Cuba. The measured length is currently disputed. This photo is widespread on the Internet and it is unclear who owns the picture copyright.

Really big sharks have been reported by many eyewitnesses, according to the records of cryptozoology. One species, the megamouth shark, has been declared real by science. Only eleven bodies have been found in the last thirty years and little is known of this shark. The megamouth grows to over fifteen feet long. However, the megamouth shark does not seem to explain all sightings of giant sharks.

Reports describing sharks of up to 100 feet long have been unconfirmed so far. People refer to the biggest of the giant sharks as "megalodons," because they are supposed to be members of an extinct species of giant shark called Carcharodon megalodon. Other reports seem to describe yet other types of giant shark, including an enormous version of the cookie-cutter shark.

One piece of evidence suggesting the existence of giant sharks is globsters, controversial carcasses that wash up on beaches. Many of these get labeled as badly rotted basking sharks by scientists, though a fair number of them are longer than the accepted length that any sharks are known to reach.

You can find out more about the Giant Sharks from the following sources:

Blackman, W. Haden. The Field Guide to North American Monsters New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998. Pages 138-139

Clark, Jerome and Coleman, Loren. Cryptozoology A-Z. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. Pages 154-157, 208-209

Newton, Michael. Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide to Hidden Animals and Their Pursuers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2005. Pages 4, 85-87, 125-126, 148, 156, 184-185, 253, 416, 418, 443

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Renz, Mark. Megalodon: Hunting the Hunter.

Roesch, Ben S. A Critical Evaluation of the Supposed Contemporary Existence of Carcharodon megalodon

Weidensaul, Scott. The Ghost with Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking and the Search for Lost Species. New York: North Point Press, 2002. Page 178

Wikipedia, The. Megalodon

Wikipedia, The. Megamouth Shark