Florida family finds 'monster' megalodon tooth while on vacation: 'Experience of a lifetime'
A Florida man and his fossil-loving family uncovered a major archeological treasure while excavating during their vacation in Summerville, South Carolina, this month.
A family's vacation turned into a real treasure hunt after they excavated a monster-sized megalodon shark tooth in South Carolina.
Paul Columbia and his sons were in Summerville when they unearthed the 6.5-inch fossil, which is believed to be millions of years old.
The family from Largo, Florida, traveled to the Palmetto State for their 12-year-old son's baseball tournament, Fox 35 Orlando reported.
They decided to make the most of their time in the greater Charleston area by taking a trip with Palmetto Fossil Excursions.
The organization is a "family-owned professional guided educational fossil hunting" team that leads tours and other fossil-hunting adventures, according to the Palmetto Fossil Excursions Facebook page.
The Columbia family and their tour guide took part in the dry dig exploration at an excavation site referred to as "The Lightning Site," Fox 35 reported.
"The Lightning Site offers an array of different formations ranging from the Pleistocene to the Oligocene with an abundance of Mega-toothed shark species," the fossil-hunting team shared on their website.
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Columbia was out at the site with his sons digging around and gathering some mako shark teeth, but they hadn't found anything big.
The father of two took a short break while his boys and the tour guide continued to dig around, Fox 35 reported.
"After his break, Paul Columbia entered the pit and recalled saying to them, 'Alright, pray to the meg gods that we hit the sought-after 7-inch meg,'" Columbia told the news outlet.
Not long after Columbia rejoined the group, the guide helped them uncover a prize worthy of the title "monster."
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"We originally thought it to be a 3-inch, then a 4-inch," Columbia said.
Columbia's wife quickly jumped into the pit with her family and joined in on the excitement.
Everyone gathered closely and continued to rid the fossil of its excess clay before realizing they had discovered a megalodon tooth over 6 inches long.
"We could not believe the size, the color or our luck," Columbia told Fox 35.
"What started as a baseball tournament trip became an experience of a lifetime."
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A megalodon is a long-extinct shark species that lived during the Early Miocene to Pliocene Epochs millions of years ago.
Megalodons stand out from other sharks as the largest known species to have inhabited earth’s waters. Most researchers believe megalodons measured between 33.5 and 58.7 feet in length, but some theorize the marine creatures could have grown as long as 82 feet, according to Britannica.
Palmetto Fossil Excursions shared photos of the million-year-old dig on it's Facebook page.
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"Can you say MONSTER?!?! Roughly 6.5" Megalodon tooth recovered at our Lightning Site on Saturday by a family visiting to celebrate their son's graduation!" the team captioned the post.
"Well, I think it's safe to say that this graduation celebration was a hit!! The tooth will need a little work to stabilize and realign the pieces but she's all there and features ridiculous colors!"
Fox News Digital reached out to Paul Columbia and Palmetto Fossil Excursions for comment.