Florida Captain Finds Huge Tooth That Belonged To Prehistoric Megalodon Shark

A Florida boat captain has found a huge tooth that belonged to a prehistoric Megalodon shark.

Megalodons, meaning ‘big tooth’, are a now-extinct shark species that graced the Earth's waters from about 23 to 3.6 million years ago, from the Early Miocene to the Pliocene eras.

And Captain Michael Nastasio, from the city of Venice in Sarasota County in the south-eastern US state of Florida who found the tooth said “I can’t take my eyes off of it”.

Megalodons were previously classified as part of the Lamnidae family, which would have meant that they were closely related to great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), but they are now listed as part of the Otodontidae family, which is extinct.

Megalodons are often considered to have been one of the biggest predators on the planet.

Captain Nastasio, who owns the shark-tooth chartering company Black Gold Fossil Charters, said he found the 6 1/16 inches (15.39 centimetres) tooth just off the coast of Venice in Florida on 15th October. The area is noted for the shark teeth found on the local sea bed.

While he has also found many other shark teeth in the past, this one is so impressive, he said he would be keeping it.

He told Newsflash: “I have been Fossil hunting for almost 11 years, and running my own charter now for a little over a year.

“I have found thousands of Megalodon shark teeth and other various fossils. My customers love me and I love them!”

He added: “I’m in the water with the customers a lot of times and you can hear them underwater when they find a tooth. You can hear them yell... It just makes you feel good.”

In 2018, the American-Chinese sci-fi film ‘The Meg’ was released starring British actor Jason Statham that was based on a group of scientists encountering a 75-foot-long Megalodon shark while on a rescue mission at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

@michael.nastasio/NF/Lee Bullen