An 11-year-old boy discovered a massive megalodon tooth on the Jersey Shore, offering a chilling glimpse into the extinct shark's deadly capabilities. Bo Bowers made the find with his father, Mike, while digging through rocks along the coast.
Discovery in a Rock Crevice
The pair stumbled upon the tooth inside a small crevice in the rocks. Mike, 42, told US news station WGAL that he spotted it after pulling a shell from the rock. "As I pulled a shell out of the one rock, there was a hole in the rock," he said. "I looked down and I was just astonished, but I couldn't fit my hand in there. So of course I'm screaming like a crazy man over there for my son Bo to come running over because of his small hand."
Bo, who needed to reach into the crevice with his small hands, admitted he was "excited" but "scared" to do so. He said: "I was just really excited at first. I was scared to put my hand down to, like, see it." He added that he hoped to keep the fossil after researchers finish studying it.
Significance of the Find
The tooth measures around 10cm in length, larger than any living shark's tooth. It would have contributed to the megalodon's bite, which could exert up to 18 tonnes of force—ten times that of a great white shark and stronger than any other animal. Megalodons could grow up to 60ft in length.
Mike, a keen hobby fossil hunter, said finding a megalodon tooth had been on his bucket list, but he never expected to find one like this. "I always seem like I find crazy stuff in the water, but I never in a million years would have guessed that we would have found something like this. My son was speechless."
Expert Confirmation
The find was later confirmed by experts at the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Centre. While megalodon teeth fragments are found fairly often, discovering a complete specimen is extremely rare and could shed further light on the 60ft shark's eating habits.
