He premiered his Christmas present and discovered remains of one of the largest extinct aquatic species in the world

Molly Sampson, a nine-year-old girl from Maryland, United States, made an unexpected discovery during a Christmas visit to Calvert Beach. She according to her reported BBCthrough a post from Calvert Maritime Museum on Facebook, the little girl found the tooth of an impressive extinct aquatic species: the megalodon.

The discovery took place between the end of December and the beginning of January, during an expedition that Molly baptized as “Finding Meg”. Her mother Alicia Sampson said that her youngest wanted to open one of her Christmas gifts from her-she had asked for fishing boots- going “shark tooth hunting”.

Together with Bruce, her father, they went to the nearby shores of the Calvert cliffs, where she made the discovery. She “she was knee-deep in water when she saw it and she dove in to get it. He ran back, admitted that he had wet his arms, but it was worth it”, recalled his mother in dialogue with CBS.

His father had searched for fossils in the area when he was a boy, and Molly followed in his footsteps from an early age: in recent years, he collected a total of 400 teeth from much smaller sharks. “She always wanted to find a ‘Meg.’ And, for some reason, she had said it one more time before Christmas,” Alicia said.

The family immediately brought the tooth to the Calvert Marine Museum, whose paleontology department confirmed the shark’s identity and congratulated Molly on social media. “People shouldn’t get the impression that teeth like this are common”highlighted one of the museum’s curators to finish.

The megalodon, which in ancient Greek means “big tooth”lived in seas around the world until it became extinct at least 3.5 million years ago. Growing to over 20 meters in length, the species was not only the largest shark in the world, but one of the largest fish ever seen.

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