For the past year, Jacob Danner has visited a Florida beach in search of washed-up items nearly every sunrise. But the art curator, Danner, discovered his first megalodon tooth three weeks ago.
The largest Known Shark
The discovered tooth is about 3 inches long and still in good condition. The art curator was ecstatic. On Thursday morning, Danner found another tooth on the heels of Tropical Storm Elsa, which is about 4-inch-long.
Danner, who discovered both teeth at Fernandina Beach said it makes you desire to spend your entire day searching, believing that more must be out there.
For amateur collectors making a lot of effort to get the largest and most intact tooth they can find, these Megalodon teeth are valued items. But science is not that interested in them since thousands wash ashore in the Southeast, said the senior scientist for the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Hans Sues.
About 3.6 million to 20 million years ago prior to their extinction, megalodon swam across oceans all over the world. They were the largest known shark that ever existed, getting to about 60 feet, and possessed several rows of teeth arranged in their jaws, as per the Smithsonian's website.
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How the Teeth was Discovered
Sues said megalodon's teeth size scales to complete body length in today's sharks. And they then can make use of this ratio to calculate the total length of a 'Meg.'
Sues added saying, when storms like Elsa begins, great ocean waves gather up so much seafloor sediment in shallow water and then dispose it on beaches, providing a feast for beach wanderers.
As per CNN affiliate WBTVA, a large megalodon tooth was also discovered in a 5-year-old vacationing in North Myrtle Beach. Danner revealed that he's collected a lot of shark teeth during his stay, but discovering the megalodon teeth showed the kid inside him.
Danner said he was turning it over every which way and holding it in his hand, and was imagining the millions of years of history he was just holding right there.
Danner said he wishes his luck stays around for some time so he could find a gold coin from a shipwreck after the tooth.
Megalodon Teeth
Megalodon teeth are almost the same as those of modern white sharks in that they are serrated, triangular, and symmetrical.
They vary from modern white shark teeth because they are larger and thicker, each tooth's serrations occur in regular intervals, and they possess a darker, chevron-shaped region close to the root of the tooth (bourlette).
The largest megalodon tooth still existing measures 6.9 inches (17.8 cm) in length, nearly three times longer than the ones modern white sharks possess which are normally about 2.1 inches (5.4 cm) long.
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