Megaladon shark tooth found along the beaches of North Carolina. (Photo : Holly Ridge/Surf City Online Gazette)
A local beach goer apparently discovered an extremely rare fossilized shark teeth that is estimated to be more than one million years old, along the eastern coast in the United States.
Denny Bland found this huge, ancient shark tooth around North Topsail Beach in Onslow County, North Carolina. According to Bland, he felt like he was a lottery winner since he was the first human to touch the shark relic since it fell from its mouth millions of years ago, saying to a local T.V. station WITN.
According to Cynthia Crane, who is also the director of the Aurora Fossil Museum in North Carolina, this tooth apparently belonged to a Megalodon. Crane describes the Megalodon as a large, gigantic shark that lurked and migrated the ancient seas between the mid Miocene and Pliocene eras, some 15 million to 5 million years ago.
She adds that it's nice to see these relics where people finding fossils in North Carolina certainly helps in providing a picture of the prehistoric past and record of paleontology of the state.
According to Holly Ridge from Surf City Online Gazette who posted photos of the Megalodon teeth online, it was not really that odd to find these fossils on the beach. Ridge reveals that there are one or two fossils that are uncovered every year along the beaches in southeastern North Carolina.
The Megalodon tooth is measured almost six inches long which is also considered to be a full grown tooth of an adult shark of the prehistoric species. The largest ever discovered was more than seven inches in length.
This unusual discovery provided the local seaside community an opportunity to share the world this ancient tooth and even if it's just one, this gave Bland something to smile about. He says, it wasn't a million dollars but I'm happier, even if it's just a shark tooth, it's still extremely exciting.
