Family Finds Rare Megalodon Tooth Hidden Inside a Rock on New Jersey Beach

August 15, 2026

A family beach outing turned into an unforgettable trip through prehistoric history when a Pennsylvania family discovered a large, intact megalodon tooth hidden inside a rock on a New Jersey beach.

The Bowers family

The Bowers family from Washington County was spending time shelling in Sea Isle City when Mike Bowers noticed something unusual.

One of the rocks had a small hole in it.

Curious, Mike looked closer and quickly realized there was something inside. The opening was too small for his hand, so he called for his son, Bo, whose smaller hand could reach into the rock.

What Bo pulled out was something the family never expected to find on their beach day.

A megalodon tooth.

"As I pulled a shell out of the one rock, there was a hole in the rock," Mike said. "I looked down and I was just astonished."

He immediately called for his son to come running over.

Bo was understandably a little nervous about reaching into the rock.

"I was just really excited at first. I was scared to put my hand down to, like, see it," he said.

The discovery was later confirmed by a fossil expert who works with the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center.

The megalodon is an extinct species of giant shark that lived from roughly 23 to 3.6 million years ago. Growing up to 50 to 80 feet long and weighing up to 94 tons, it is the largest carnivorous shark and fish known to have ever existed.