A couple weeks ago I had the chance to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in D.C. with the aim of finding some inspiration for my last couple column pieces. And let me tell you, I got inspired. So ladies and gentleman, keep reading to learn about the largest fish that has ever lived.

The Megalodon, meaning “giant tooth,” is a massive shark widely known through its appearances in movies and tv shows. While this usually comes with its exaggerations (ahem the velociraptor ahem), this just isn’t true with the Meg. These guys grew up to be 6o feet long (2o feet longer than a bus) and could weigh up to 150,000 pounds. It had the most powerful bite of any creature that has ever lived (18 tons per square inch), with teeth over seven inches long. Megalodons preferred to hunt giant whales, shearing off their fins leaving them immobile before going in for the final kill. It’s believed that they ate about 2,500 pounds of food each day.

No one knows how Megalodons went extinct. Perhaps they ran out of prey to chase down, or were doomed by a global cooling. Maybe, just maybe, they could still be in the depths of the ocean, lurking right under our noses.