Copyright Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH — One of the most fearsome predators to rule the seas millions of years ago may have left something behind at Virginia Beach’s North End. Terry Siviter and his 5-year-old grandson, Jackson Fox, recently found a shark tooth on the beach there. Scientists think it could have belonged to a megalodon, an extinct shark, that lived in the ocean more than 3 million years ago. It was a warm October afternoon when the two of them decided to scour the shoreline at 52nd Street. “Jackson goes, ‘Pop-Pop, let’s go find rocks,’ which to him are gold and treasure,” said Siviter, 67. He and his grandson often go to the beach where Siviter likes to surf, and Fox rides a boogie board. They catch fish in nets and hunt for sea glass. On that October day, at the peak of low tide, they stood together along the water’s edge. A gentle wave washed over their feet. As it receded, Siviter spotted the small, smooth, brown tooth. It was only about 1.5 inches long. “It just caught my eye,” he said. “A bigger wave came, and I grabbed it just in time.” Siviter and Fox were likely the first people to touch what may be a tooth from a juvenile megalodon. They knew they had something special. Siviter had seen megalodon teeth before at a friend’s house. He sent a picture of his find to experts at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach. The aquarium confirmed the discovery is a fossilized shark’s tooth and could be from a juvenile megalodon, which would mean it’s millions of years old. Its serrated edges are worn down, making it difficult to determine the exact species, but such a find along the ocean shoreline is rare, according to the aquarium’s experts. The Chesapeake Bay area is a hotspot for finding megalodon teeth, but it would be more common to uncover them along the river banks where they are imbedded in ancient marine sediments above current sea level. However, as those banks erode, teeth and other fossils end up in the water and could be carried by currents to other locations like the Oceanfront. It’s possible some of the recent storms in the area could have have brought the tooth to the shore, an aquarium spokesperson said. The biggest indicator that a shark tooth is a fossil is its color. Fossilized teeth have absorbed more surrounding minerals, darkening them in color from the modern white teeth to more brown, grey or black hues, according to the aquarium. The tooth discovered on 52nd Street has a black basal — the base of the tooth where it attaches to the root — and a brown crown. Megalodons lived roughly 23 to 3.6 million years ago and were three times the length of the modern-day great white shark. Its scientific name is Carcharocles megalodon, which means “glorious shark, big tooth.” The largest recorded megalodon teeth are more than 7 inches long. Tooth size is related to the estimated overall length of the shark, with every inch equating to roughly 10 feet. Based on the size of the tooth Siviter and his grandson found, the ancient shark may have been nearly 15 feet long. A scary thought for a surfer like Siviter. “I’m glad that sucker’s 3 million years dead,” he said. Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
