Hurricane Matthew unearths huge prehistoric shark tooth

(Peggy and Nate Campbell)

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 though 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."