Hunter Mooney, of Carolina Beach Fossils recently discovered an eye, or rather jaw, opening shark’s tooth off the coast of North Carolina.
Mooney, an avid waterman, was scuba diving about 40 miles offshore at the infamous “Meg Ledge” – a dive spot known for its abundance of prehistoric sharks’ teeth when he found the tooth.
Hunter tells Riff Outdoors:
“I was out there, you know, doin my thing lookin’ for teeth, and not finding a whole lot. I was getting close to the end of the dive when I saw this big ol outline in the sand.
I used my hand to fan off the top layer of sand and just started yelling into my regulator… this beautiful tooth was staring up at me… the thing was massive!”
Mooney ended his dive and brought the tooth to the surface. The official measurement came in at 6.9 inches, setting the North Carolina State record for the biggest shark tooth ever found in the state.
It is said that each inch of tooth equates to roughly 10 feet of shark.
So, do the math: a 7-inch tooth, is thought to come from a… drumroll please…. 70-foot shark.
That’s like… 2 school buses… or 4 giraffes… or… the height of the White House.
It’s hard to fathom, but luckily for the beachgoers out there, Megalodon sharks are no longer with us. Yet their fossils remain to be found, studied, and appreciated.
When asked what he does with the teeth he finds, Mooney says he enjoys gifting them to close friends and family and selling them via his business: Carolina Beach Fossils – a store that he owns and operates alongside his sister, Kristen Mooney.
Kristen, a talented metalsmith, enjoys turning teeth into jewelry, creating shark tooth earrings, necklaces and even bolo ties.
Yes, you heard that right… shark tooth bolo ties. Now that’s country fashion… with a bite.
