Young fossil hunter discovers massive Megalodon tooth

January 23

Nine-year-old Molly Sampson and her 17-year-old sister Natalie had only one item on their Christmas list last year. They wanted chest-high waterproof overalls to “go shark’s-tooth hunting like professionals.” Their wish was granted. On Christmas morning, the sisters set out to Maryland’s Calvert Beach with their father to put their new equipment to use.

The tide was particularly low, and Molly fearlessly walked through the ocean water in frigid 10° F (-12° C) weather. In less than half an hour, she noticed “something big” beneath the water’s surface. To her delight, it was exactly what she had hoped to Ànd a Megalodon Shark tooth.

“We went out shark’s tooth hunting around 30 because it was a low tide,” Molly said. “And we’re wading out in the water, and I looked over, and I looked down in the water, and I saw it, and I reached in and grabbed it.”

The Sampsons took Molly’s exciting Ànd to the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland, USA. Here,

Dr. Stephen Godfrey, the Curator of Paleontology, conÀrmed that the massive Àve-inch tooth was indeed that of a Megalodon.

Molly estimates that its former owner was about 50 feet long.

The Otodus Megalodon (“giant tooth”) is a species of mackerel shark that went extinct about 3.6 million years ago. The monstrous Àsh grew between 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 metres) long.

The waters off Calvert Cliffs in the USA were once home to whales and dolphins that would have attracted hungry Megalodons and other shark species.

Sharks frequently lose their teeth and replace them with new ones. While over a hundred are found annually, few are as large as the one Molly found. Over the years, Molly has collected over 400 shark teeth along Maryland’s coast. She suspects at least six of them once belonged to Megalodons!