--- title: Enormous Fossilized Shark Teeth Wash Up in North Carolina description: The specimens come from a Megalodon canonical: https://time.com/4086036/fossilized-shark-teeth-north-carolina/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-24T16:44:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:03:19.698Z article:section: Science og:title: Enormous Fossilized Shark Teeth Wash Up in North Carolina og:description: The specimens come from a Megalodon og:url: https://time.com/4086036/fossilized-shark-teeth-north-carolina/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ba7a5f9661f9f83/698869ae0a4a224dbb9c6b68/megalodon.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3915 og:image:height: 2202 og:image:alt: Reconstruction of Megalodon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Enormous Fossilized Shark Teeth Wash Up in North Carolina twitter:description: The specimens come from a Megalodon twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ba7a5f9661f9f83/698869ae0a4a224dbb9c6b68/megalodon.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Enormous Fossilized Shark Teeth Wash Up on North Carolina Shores by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 24, 2015 4:44 PM UTC  Reconstruction of Megalodon, (Carcharodon megalodon) extinct species of shark which lived between the Eocene and the Pliocene Period. Drawing. Reconstruction of Megalodon, (Carcharodon megalodon) extinct species of shark which lived between the Eocene and the Pliocene Period. Drawing.De Agostini Picture Library—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 24, 2015 4:44 PM UTC Beachgoers in North Carolina have been finding [ancient surprises](http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Giant-shark-teeth-wash-up-on-North-Topsail-Beach-336445471.html?utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=facebook%5FWITN-TV) on their walks along the shore: 6-inch-long fossilized teeth from enormous sharks that swam the oceans up to 15 million years ago. The specimens have been found in North Topsail Beach and Surf City, local NBC affiliate WITN reports. Experts believe they were recently uncovered from under the ocean floor after storms hit the area. The teeth, large enough to cover an adult’s entire palm, hint at the size of the animal they’re from: using estimations based on the tooth-to-body length ratio of modern sharks, experts believe these 6-inch-long teeth would come from a 60-foot-long extinct Megalodon shark. > [](https://twitter.com/AustinHunt/status/657952383570440192) \[[WITN](http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Giant-shark-teeth-wash-up-on-North-Topsail-Beach-336445471.html?utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=facebook%5FWITN-TV)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4086036/fossilized-shark-teeth-north-carolina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4086036/fossilized-shark-teeth-north-carolina/"},"headline":"Enormous Fossilized Shark Teeth Wash Up on North Carolina Shores","datePublished":"2015-10-24T16:44:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:03:19.698Z","description":"The specimens come from a Megalodon","url":"https://time.com/4086036/fossilized-shark-teeth-north-carolina/","keywords":["Paleontology","Sharks","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ba7a5f9661f9f83/698869ae0a4a224dbb9c6b68/megalodon.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ba7a5f9661f9f83/698869ae0a4a224dbb9c6b68/megalodon.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Reconstruction of Megalodon","caption":"Reconstruction of Megalodon","creditText":"De Agostini Picture Library—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/paleontology/","name":"Paleontology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4086036/fossilized-shark-teeth-north-carolina/","name":"Enormous Fossilized Shark Teeth Wash Up on North Carolina Shores"}}]}] ```