Local

Family visiting NC beach finds prehistoric Megalodon shark tooth

OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. — A family visiting Ocean Isle Beach Saturday is taking home a prehistoric surprise after finding a Megalodon shark tooth, according to WRAL.

Harvey Wall told local news outlets he found the Megalodon shark tooth in the water near the Shallotte Inlet.

Wall and his family were looking for seashells when they found the shark tooth. He said he could only see the black part in low tide, but when he flipped it over, it exposed the whole Megalodon tooth.

Wall said he wants to donate the prehistoric shark tooth to the Museum of Coastal Carolina in Ocean Isle Beach.

The North Carolina coast is becoming a well-known hot spot for finding giant prehistoric Megalodon teeth, according to Channel 9's partners WTVD.

"It's really rare," marine biologist and owner of WB Diving, Chris Slog, told WTVD. "In North Carolina, we're really lucky and specifically Wilmington, it's one of a few places in the world where you can find the Megalodon teeth in those numbers."

[ALSO READ: Couple finds prehistoric megalodon tooth on North Carolina beach]

The Megalodon shark went extinct millions of years ago and was the largest shark ever documented. The prehistoric tooth could be up to almost 3 million years old.