A young girl says her discovery of a rare 15 million-year-old megalodon tooth was the ’best Christmas present ever’

A young girl’s Christmas wish came true when she discovered a ‘once in a lifetime” treasure: an ancient shark’s tooth while at the beach.

A young girl’s amazing discovery of an ancient and rare shark tooth proves that some Christmas wishes do come true.

In a now viral Facebook post, nine-year old Molly Sampson was pictured holding in her small hands a 15 million year old megalodon tooth after she discovered the rare treasure during a Christmas Day visit to Calvert Beach in Maryland, USA.

Nine- year-old Molly Sampson proudly shows off her amazing discovery. Picture: Facebook

Molly’s mother Alicia Sampson said she was sure her daughter thought finding the massive 12.7m tooth (5 inch) made that holiday season the “best Christmas ever”.

It comes as Molly and sister Natalie had requested insulated chest waders as their Christmas present so that they could go “Sharkstooth hunting like professionals…. then of course (the) first thing they do is put them on and go out hunting,” her mother said in the post. “Look at the size of the tooth Molly just found this tooth was in the water, so thanks to the waders she got the best part of her present!!”

Splashing around in chilly and knee-deep waters, the lucky nine-year-old found a massive tar coloured tooth belonging to the now-extinct Otodus megalodon shark species.

Molly Sampson (far left) was with her family when she found the rare treasure. Picture: Facebook

Megalodon, meaning “big tooth” in Ancient Greek, lived in waters around the world but died out at least 3.5 million years ago.

The animals stretched up to more than 20 metres in length and was one of the largest fishes to have existed.

Molly’s mum Alicia along with dad Bruce, told CBS News “She told me she was wading in knee deep water when she saw it and dove in to get it,” she said.

Molly’s treasures (top row) found on Christmas Day. Picture: Facebook

”She said she got her arms all wet, but it was so worth it.”

Molly had already found over 400 albeit much smaller teeth, but was always wishing to find a ‘meg’.

“She has always wanted to find a ‘Meg’, but for whatever reason, she spoke it into existence on Christmas morning.”

The family took Molly’s amazing discovery to the Calvert Marine Museum, whose paleontology experts confirmed the shark‘s identity and congratulated the “future paleontologist” on social media.

“People should not get the impression that teeth like this one are common along Calvert Cliffs,” Stephen Godfrey, the museum‘s curator said.

“And she didn‘t have to dig into the cliffs to find the tooth, it was out in the water.”