Hurricane Matthew unearthed an exciting artifact for one Virginia couple. Nat Campbell and his wife Peggy were on vacation at North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina and stumbled across a prehistoric shark tooth.
“We had been there maybe 15 minutes, standing in ankle deep water and all of a sudden I looked to my left and within two feet I saw this shark’s tooth, which I thought it was a shark’s tooth but I’ve never seen anything that large," Campbell said. “My wife thought it was a rock. And I reached over and picked it up and I saw the serrated edges so I knew then that it was a big shark’s tooth, but I had no idea it was a
Megalodon.”
Campbell and his wife took the tooth to Ripley’s Aquarium in South Carolina and spoke with Brady Stoever, an aquarist who told them it was no ordinary tooth; it was likely “millions of years old.” Turns out, it came from what used to be the world’s largest shark.
According to Stoever, the tooth came from a Megalodon, a shark that lived millions of years ago and could grow up to 60 feet in length; a great white only grows to be no more than 20 feet.
Campbell says he is keeping the tooth: “My wife is talking about getting a shadow box and put it in it and just keeping it... it is a great conversation piece."