County native discovers colossal ancient shark tooth
While scuba diving off the coast of Southport, N.C., Dec. 13, Danville native Slater Robinson made an exciting discovery.
He came across an 8-12–million–year–old Megalodon shark tooth.
While many people have panned for shark teeth while vacationing in Florida, and sometimes lucky divers will uncover a highly sought after Megalodon shark tooth when diving around Megalodon Ledge – the site of Robinson’s dive – this one was special.
According to Robinson’s captain, from Blackbeard Scuba, the tooth measured 6 inches in slant height – the biggest tooth a diver on their charter has ever found – so Robinson was pretty thrilled.
He added that although the largest teeth from Megalodon are a little more than 7 inches, a more common size for Megalodon teeth is between 3–5 inches. One of the world’s largest ever found measured 7.25 inches slant height and was discovered by Vito Bertucci in South Carolina.
Besides finding this Megalodon tooth and four others on this deep dive to 100 feet, Robinson has another reason to celebrate this particular Megalodon adventure, as it marked his 50th dive, certifying Robinson as a “master diver.” His original certification was through Auburn University with Adventure Sports.
Robinson, 24, was born and raised in Danville and is a 2018 graduate of Auburn University with a degree in poultry science. He works as a supervisor for Perdue Farms in Concord, N.C.
He has always been an outdoor adventurer and loves camping, scuba diving, hunting, fishing/bow fishing and snowboarding, and he has just started flying lessons.
