Every youngster loves sharks . These hulking rulers of the sea capture the resourcefulness of children ( and adults too ! ) , and there is no shark bigger , more toothy , and more jawesome than themegalodon . As such , most kids spend a in force few days of their childhood trawling beaches for fossilized shark teeth , but , if you ’re anything like me , never actually line up any .
So , when six - year - erstwhile Sammy Shelton pulled a massive megalodon tooth in brilliant consideration from an English coastline called Bawdsey beach , you may guess how unrestrained he was . Measuring 10 centimeters ( 4 inches ) long and nearly the size of his intact hand , this tooth go to thelargest ever species of sharkto drown Earth ’s sea , and has become a personal hoarded wealth of Sammy ’s .
pic of the tooth were broadcast to an evolutionary biologist from the University of East Anglia in Norwich , Professor Ben Garrod , for designation , who confirmed it as a megalodon tooth in remarkable stipulation .
" It belonged to a megalodon , the big ever shark , and its tooth are not often found around the UK coastline , " said Prof Garrod , reports theBBC .
" Maybe just a handful a year , but this is a peculiarly good example , in really sound condition , whereas they are ordinarily quite worn when find . "
The megalodon was a ogre shark that experience between 23 to 3.6 million years ago , with the nameOtodus megalodontranslating to “ Big Tooth ” . hit a staggering distance of over 16 meters ( 52 foot ) , the megalodon hunted whale and was likely the apex predator at the clock time . A simplification in baleen whale dispersion , among other things , likely led to theextinction of the megalodonmillions of year ago , and all that is give are enormous dentition that show just how massive they really were .
Sammy now gets to fulfill pretty much every child ’s ( and IFLScience stave ’s ) dream of having a huge megalodon tooth in his self-will , which – although it could be worth around $ 100 ( £ 80 ) in monetary terms – will be worth the world to him .
