Family finds shark tooth at Holden Beach, experts say it’s 15 million years old

HOLDEN BEACH, NC (WWAY/WSOC) — A North Carolina family found a shark tooth at Holden Beach that experts said is 15 million years old.

The family said their son found the tooth while on vacation and shared it with his science teacher at West Alexander Middle School in Alexander County. He sent it to several experts across North Carolina.

Officials with Duke University’s Marine Labs said the tooth was from a prehistoric shark called the hemipristis or snaggletooth shark. They said the species was central to the Indo-West Pacific.

Experts said they believe that climate change and the recent storms stirring things up in the ocean are how it ended up there.