Читать книгу Oceans For Dummies - Joseph Kraynak - Страница 37

People always have been and continue to be fascinated with the bizarre, massive, and powerful creatures lurking beneath the ocean’s surface. Before people could explore the underwater world for themselves, they imagined great beasts roaming the ocean, such as the kraken — an enormous octopus-like creature that sailors thought could crush wooden ships whole. Don’t worry, nobody’s going to “release the kraken”; it’s a mythological creature. However, the kraken was probably inspired by a real sea monster — the giant squid, which prowls the deep sea. Females can grow up to 13 meters (43 feet) long (about the length of a school bus) and we think it’s fair to say that a squid of that size would scare the sandals off anyone aboard a boat, wooden or otherwise.

Another favorite marine creature of lore is the mermaid. Half human, half fish, and totally voluptuous, these beautiful sirens would sing out to ships and lure men to love or certain death. Mermaids aren’t real (though I, Ashlan, still love to pretend I am one while scuba diving). They’re believed to have been dreamt up by a bunch of men who were stuck at sea for months and months on end. On the high seas back in the day, women were scarce, and ships were full of dudes with nothing to occupy their free time but rum, stale bread, and tall tales. Historians agree that sailors very likely did see something, maybe a manatee, a dugong, or a sexy seal, but certainly not a mermaid or a lady in a wetsuit. However, after a few glasses of said rum, to a lonely desperate sailor peering through half sober eyes, a manatee might look like a lovely plump lady-fish.

Of course, a few mind-blowing creatures really have existed, some of which were around long before sailors and pirates were day dreaming of love affairs with mermaids. The megalodon, for example, was an enormous ancient shark whose name literally means “giant tooth.” Alive during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (23 million to 2.6 million years ago), megalodons were the largest fish to swim the seas, at least the largest we know of to date. A single meg tooth is the size of an average human hand! Based on scientists’ belief that megalodons were almost the same shape as our modern great white shark and based on the size of the teeth and vertebrae fossils found, researchers estimate that this massive shark could grow to be 82 feet long, with a jaw large enough for an adult-sized human to walk through. In comparison, the fictional great white shark in Jaws was a mere 25 feet long. But notice that we’ve been using past tense for megalodons. Yes, they’re extinct. We promise.