[Brownie's Beach][archives]

4th of July Big One

Big tooth At the right place at the right time, and a lot of luck. How else to explain a 3 1/4" (8.25cm) Megalodon on the 4th of July? The beach had been crawling with people the weekend before, and the weather had been calm and dry, except for some rain Monday night. I had already given up finding anything spectacular, and was walking along the cliffs while screening for the regular mix of smaller teeth when I suddenly saw this beauty. Some people I talked to later thought they had heard somebody screaming. Well they were right, that was me.

As you can see there is some feeding damage to the tip, and the bourlette (the dark band between the enamel and the root) and enamel itself show some damage, but otherwise this is a very nice tooth. But maybe I'm a little prejudiced, since it is my largest ever...

Maybe somebody can explain to me whether this is a real Meg, or whether these bumps that are not quite cusplets mean that it is a Chubutensis or an intermediate form????



Last modified: July 4, 2000 - © Edwin Huizinga