'Quite the catch!' Fisherman finds 15 million-year-old megalodon tooth in Maryland waters

WASHINGTON (TND) — A fisherman said he found a massive megalodon tooth in Maryland waters — and it is bigger than one a 9-year-old girl found in the state on Christmas Day.

The tooth was reportedly discovered by Stephen Rollins on February 10 when he was shellfishing for oysters.

Quite the catch! Pulled in on 2/10/23 with a load of oysters in the Chesapeake by the Undertaker owned and operated by Stephen Rollins along with 1st mate Jeremiah Jerry Jordan," Rollins wife, Bambi noted on Facebook."

Bambi shared news of the find on the Facebook page "Workboat Life," along with three photos of her husband's find.

One photo shows Rollins holding the tooth, which measures 5.5 inches, according to multiple reports.

Other images show the tooth in Bambi's hand, with the tooth covering her entire palm and fingers.

The tooth is about a half-inch longer than the one 9-year-oldMolly Sampson discovered at Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs State Park in late December.

I couldn’t believe it. It was just so exciting," Molly said. “I usually just find little ones and I never really thought I would find a big one like that."

She said she asked for waders for Christmas so she can continue her treasure hunt for fossils and shark teeth.

A low tide and perfect conditions led to the rare discovery.

"We were looking around and I just looked over in the water. And I looked down and I saw something big," Molly, who wants to be a paleontologist when she grows up, said. "I went closer to it and I tried scooping it up but I couldn’t because it was so big and then I just reached in really quick and grabbed it and I was screeching."

Experts estimate the tooth is approximately 15 million years old.

A Megalodon, which means "big tooth," was an enormous fossil shark found in many seas during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: WJLA'sCarolina Patrickis contributed to this report.