‘Megalodon tooth’ Port Macquarie beach find doesn’t convince expert but remains object of fascination
A washed up mystery object resembling a large tooth has sparked speculation it belonged to a giant extinct prehistoric ancestor of modern sharks, but experts say the find is likely fiction.
A mystery object picked up from a Mid-North Coast beach led to speculation it could be a Megalodon tooth but an expert has promptly dismissed the fantastic claims – saying it’s likely a rock.
The 8cm long and 4.5cm wide object was spotted on North Shore Beach, across the Hastings River from the main Port Macquarie town centre, on Thursday morning last week by local Kylie Keain.
The trucking business owner has since put it on display in her house and said it has attracted significant interest.
“It doesn’t look like a rock, it doesn’t feel like a rock, it’s not heavy like a rock would be,” Ms Keain said last week.
“Everybody who has seen said it’s like calcified shark bone.”
“I do believe it is some kind of animal for sure.”
Ms Keain said she found the object during one of her twice-weekly trips to the beach to collect shells with her grandkids, twin girls aged four and a boy aged three.
“I come across it just laying on beach – near the breakwall,” she said.
“I just saw it lying there on the edge of the shore line and I thought straight away it was a shark tooth because it is very calcified, hard like a bone. What a find, wow!
“Some people are saying it is a crab claw but a crab claw is a shell, they are hollow.”
However, last week Flinders University Palaeontology Professor John Long identified the object as “just a rock” from photos sent to him by The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s definitely not a Megalodon or fossil shark’s tooth,” Prof Long said
“To have a perfect form with enamel and serrated edges and that sort of thing this is just rock.”
He also said the NSW Mid-North Coast was not the area to find fossils from the giant species of extinct shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago.
“If you want to find a Megalodon you have to find an area where there are rocks the right age, Prof Long said.
“You can find them in a few places in Australia, Victoria and South Australia.
“That’s where the rocks are the right age for a Megalodon.”
Prof Long said Megalodon teeth were common enough to buy relatively easily online and he had recently purchased one for $300 to use as a prop when talking about his new book The Secret History of Sharks.
However, they can be worth considerably more.
“Really good Megalodon teeth can be worth five or $6000 if they are perfect,” he said.
This week Ms Keain said she had also been told by a US specialist Megalodon website that her object was not a remnant of the giant predator.
However, she still believes it is something unusual.
Prof Long said for those in Ms Keain’s situation the “best advice is to take something like this to a museum and let someone see it because that’s what museums do”.
Got a story? Email david.southwell@news.com.au
More Coverage
Originally published as ‘Megalodon tooth’ Port Macquarie beach find doesn’t convince expert but remains object of fascination
