22 February 2023 , 13:00
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A woman made a bizarre discovery after a giant tooth belonging to a 20ft great white shark was found washed up on a beach.
Leah McLamb, 25, and her husband Josh, 32, from Greensboro, North Carolina, US, were enjoying a stroll on a beach when they stumbled upon an unusual object.
The couple, who drove three hours to indulge in their favourite hobby shark tooth hunting, got lucky last week when they spotted a “giant” fossilised tooth believed to come from a great white shark.
The extraordinary pictures show the tooth is almost as big as Leah’s palm and appears sharp at the edge.
“We could not believe our eyes,” Leah told NeedToKnow.online.
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Leah and her husband Josh made the fascinating discovery (Jam Press/Leah McLamb)“Neither of us have ever seen a tooth this big.
“We drove down Friday night in the hopes of finding a big one.
“We began our search as soon as we arrived at the beach at about 11 pm. It was freezing outside so we bundled up in our coveralls, face masks, muck boots, and winter coats.
“About an hour into our hunt, we were walking side by side with our flashlights when we saw the giant great white tooth at the same time. My husband was quicker and fell to the ground to grab it.
“This is what we came for – we were ecstatic!”
The ‘giant’ tooth was found on a North Carolina beach (Jam Press/Leah McLamb)
Pictures show the tooth is almost as big as Leah’s palm and appears sharp at the edge (Jam Press/Leah McLamb)The tooth was found on a North Carolina beach and Leah excitedly shared the pictures with shark experts online, who she says confirmed it came from a great white.
She said: “One even told us that the tooth likely came from a 20-25 ft great white.
“The largest great white tooth recorded was about 2.7 inches long and the one we found is 2.45 inches long which means it’s an extremely rare size for a great white.”
Leah also shared pictures on Facebook, where fellow enthusiasts were impressed by the find.
It is 2.45 inches long which is an extremely rare size for a great white shark, according to Leah (Jam Press/Leah McLamb)Kelby Ellis said: “That is incredible!”
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Kenneth Guberman said: “Easily off of a 25 plus foot shark.”
Jonathan Biddix commented: “Wow, huge great white! Awesome find.”
Christina Mitchell said: “That’s awesome… I’d probably pee may pants if I found one of those!! Ok maybe not pee but I’d def jump up and down screaming lol.” [sic]
The couple are both avid shark tooth hunters who even went on their honeymoon to search for shark teeth.
Leah said: “We both hunted for teeth as children and now we hunt for teeth together.
“We honeymooned in Venice, Florida, because it is known for being the shark tooth capital of the US and hunted for teeth there.
“Their beaches are filled with baby meg teeth so we had a good idea of what those looked like.
“We also have several small to decent-sized great white teeth that we have found in North Carolina at our favourite spot to compare the giant one, too.”