A woman has discovered a shark tooth on the beach belonging to the biggest shark in the world – which went extinct more than three million years ago. Madison Neal, 23, spotted the giant tooth while hunting for shark teeth – and claims it came from the prehistoric beast.
She found an incredible 193 shark teeth from varying species on her walk with fiancé Chase – most of them much smaller in size, as well as five vertebrae. "I was super shocked to find one," Madison said. "I had already found about 150 small ones and I only moved up to the dry sand to eat my lunch when I just got to feeling to search about the bigger stuff – and there it was."
Madison found the huge tooth on a beach in Charleston, in South Carolina, America, while taking part in a coastal expedition tour earlier this month.
She added: "I've found teeth from all types of sharks but my favourite from this trip was definitely the megalodon tooth and [one from a] snaggletooth shark.
"The shark vertebraes we found were pretty cool too."
The megalodon is believed to have ruled the seas from between 23 to 3.6 million years ago, and is the largest shark and fish in known existence.
A close relative of the modern great white, megalodon is regarded as one of the largest and most powerful predators to have ever lived.
While megalodon teeth are usually between three and five inches, they can grow up to seven inches long – with the huge shark preying on prey including whales and dolphins.
The predators became extinct after smaller, more successful great white sharks emerged.
It comes after a nine-year-old fossil hunter discovered a 13cm tooth on Christmas Day while she was at Calvert Cliffs State Park in Chesapeake Bay.
Molly Sampson has collected more than 400 shark teeth on the coastline in Maryland, US, but the latest huge tooth actually belonged to a megalodon.
The tooth was found in shallow water by Molly and her sister Natalie, who are both keen fossil hunters and enjoy finding historic parts of early life.
The sisters were given chest-high waders for Christmas to help them search for treasures in the shallow waters, according to their mum Alicia Sampson.
The family took the enormous tooth to expert a curator of paleontology at Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, who said it was from a megalodon (Otodus megalodon).
Alicia said he described it as a "once-in-a-lifetime" discovery.
Do you have a story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
