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Picture 1: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KS_TIGRE_INM_TOC.jpg - edited by Tanija for this article
Original: "Karlos Simón Inmovilidad tónica", creator: Paloma Ortega Sánchez
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Picture 2: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_Sea_map-de.png - edited by Tanija for this article
Original: "Map of the North Sea — in northern Europe with water depths and the EEZs of the riparian areas.", creator: Halava
CC-BY-SA 3.0
Translator: Doktor Cyberion
Item#: SCP-272-DE
Photo of the training with the young animal, 1993
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-272-DE is permitted to move within an area of 347,000 km² between the German Bight, the Oestergronden and the Doggerbank. During mating and hunting, SCP-272-DE is also allowed to use the deeper waters of the Norwegian Channel and the Fladen Grounds off Scotland. Prior to the temporary habitat change, this must be communicated to the respective other Foundation branches in order to avoid military incidents. SCP-272-DE is aware of the routes and times; under no circumstances is SCP-272-DE allowed to leave its habitat outside these times. The location of SCP-272-DE is to be checked regularly by a GPS tracker attached to the dorsal.
Should SCP-272-DE leave the habitat unplanned, its tracking sensors fail or it is forcibly removed, or it is detected by civilians, immediately initiate the protocol "272-Fangnetz" and send out the MTF DE7-𝔑 "Neptune's Trident" to bring it in a capture convoy, consisting of the mother ship, three harpooning boats and two scout ships, either to bring it back on its route, or, should it react aggressively, to force it back by attacking it with bartharpoons, which do not cause any deeper injuries due to their shape. This is especially necessary should SCP-272-DE enter waters where there are more civilians or smaller boats that it could attack in a feeding frenzy. In this case, the maritime MTF is to be used for distraction and protection at the same time. At the end of the feeding frenzy, the entity is to be escorted back to its habitat and any wounds that may have occurred are to be treated. Disinformation campaigns should be initiated to disguise missions and sightings as military exercises.
If a serious escape attempt occurs, as it was the case on 27.11.1994, see incident report #272-001-V-A, the MTF DE25-𝔖 "Steel Whale" shall be sent out immediately, diving from site DE25 with a Class 206 submarine and active Sonar DBQS21 underwater locator to SCP-272-DE to prevent it from crossing the Atlantic, Skagerrak or the Ärmelkanal.
Once every three days, the team of the PFSMC1, a sub-organisation of the PFSAS, is to be sent out to check and analyse the physical and mental condition of the entity and then to provide it with carrion and other waste products according to the nutrient table.
Regular checks on the sensors and mechanics are to be carried out by personnel provided for this purpose from all branches involved, with the current research leader and a trusted training diver from the German branch to be present at all times. As SCP-272-DE is growing and has already reached a size that makes care and feeding very difficult, a relocation has been planned with the Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking branches for 2025. From then on, the entity will be given a new designation and the research team will be permanently transferred to the branches in charge at that time, in order to continue care and feeding and to keep the trauma and stress of the habitat change low.
Habitat area boundaries
Description: SCP-272-DE is a young male member of the species Carcharocles megalodon of the mackerel shark family (Lamnidae). SCP-272-DE is the designation for the last remaining specimen of this anomaly, previously designated SCP-272-DE-2.
As is common with Lamniformes, SCP-272-DE is also characterised by the following features: It has five branchiae (gill slits), but also uses skin respiration to keep the oxygen content in its body high by diffusion. The back is adorned with a spineless dorsal, which stabilises the vertical posture in the water, and an anale. The pectoral fins are very broad and sickle-shaped, whereas the crescent-shaped caudal fin has a very long upper lobus and a distinct notch at the upper tip.
A membrana nicitans (nictitating membrane) is not present, but there is a prominent spiraculum just behind the eyes for sucking in respiratory water. Like many other representatives of the Lamniformes, SCP-272-DE is able to move independently of the ambient temperature by storing heat in a network of rete mirabilis (capillary vessels), which gives it a clear advantage in the cooler waters of the North Sea. That is also supported by the colouration of the skin: This is almost monochrome dark grey, grey-brown to blackish, with the back darker than the underside.
The hydrodynamic shape of the cone-shaped snout, which protrudes far beyond the mouth, supports its movement. However, this is not designed for acceleration as in a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), but for an energy-saving continuous speed that reduces the burning of food reserves. Measurements of swimming speed showed an average speed of about four and a half kilometres per hour. The mouth is wide and has strong jaws and a revolver bite with triangular teeth with finely serrated cutting edges that become larger towards the tip of the snout.
SCP-272-DE has a current height of 10.67 m and is still considered a juvenile, with an age of 63 years and a current weight of around 35 tonnes.
SCP-272-DE's digestive tract is enhanced by a Division XXV mechanical apparatus that allows for far more efficient extraction of nutrients. This, along with a second mechanism that recycles waste products and additionally pulls nutrients from plankton, allows the entity to require a fraction of the food it actually needs to sustain itself. Furthermore, the entity is supplied by the research team, which feeds the predator carrion from seals and whales, but also leftovers from fish production. By hunting on its own, the entity needs between 500 and 1000 kg of food per day2, a trend that has been increasing in recent years.
Said mechanical apparatus is externally recognisable by several metal parts penetrating the skin, which are protected from external influences by a kind of silicone and also seal the junctions into the epidermis and basal plate layer of SCP-272-DE's body to reduce inflammation. However, this needs to be renewed regularly to counteract the progressive deterioration of the material due to corrosion and salt-induced decomposition. Likewise, the constant growth of SCP-272-DE forces the mechanics to adapt to the changing body. If this does not happen, both the vital functions of the body and the organs inside will fail, unable to withstand their own weight and the water pressure.
SCP-272-DE develops a very strong affection for every trainer and research leader and seems to possess a kind of empathy. This empathy ability is massively impaired at mating times3. During this time the entity is highly irritable and does not recognise boats or divers as friendly. Through training, however, it is able to recognise these times and, as a precaution, retreats to less populated and less frequented areas. SCP-272-DE is also able to communicate with its trainers through simple body language. It imitates and performs special swimming patterns, swims with a hunched back or moves its jaw rhythmically to confirm or deny. In particular, its first trainer, Katherina Wancke, practised body language-only communication with the entity for years, providing much of the research data on it.
Conversation protocol #272-064-P on the state of research:
Despite the increased supervision of SCP-272-DE and the attempt to accustom it to other personnel, an escape attempt with civilian casualties occurred on 27 November 1994, two weeks after the departure of training diver Katherina Wancke, which could only be stopped by the emergency intervention of a submarine of the Dutch Navy. The chronological sequence of events can be traced in the following document:
Discovery: SCP-272-DE was already discovered on 01.02.1990 by reconnaissance aircraft at sea when it, together with the then SCP-272-DE-1, drifted in the North Sea at the coordinates N██,██████ E██,██████. Both entities were in a desolate condition and were promptly salvaged. SCP-272-DE-1 perished the same week, but the other entity was kept alive, in particular through the use of Division XXV technologies, which were not clearly identifiable at the time. However, some of the documents relating to the creation of SCP-272-DE were recovered by research team 25 and reconstructed on 19.03.2010, which partly explain why these entities were created.
How the mother animal came into the possession of Department XXV, how it could be created and how the fertilisation took place is unknown so far. A connection to former research projects of the Sonderkommando für Paranormales cannot be ruled out.
Addendum #272-001: Since the death of the primary training diver Katherina Wancke on 07.06.2018, the behaviour of SCP-272-DE has changed drastically. It has almost completely stopped foraging on its own and appears apathetic. Communication attempts by new divers have almost exclusively failed or ended in aggressive behaviour. A psychological evaluation and behavioural analysis has been initiated by O4-13, but has not yet been completed.