5.9 inch Megalodon tooth from Isabela, Puerto Rico

This is a rather interesting 5.9 inch Megalodon tooth with the matrix it was discovered with from a rare location and with a likely documented discovery.

Several Megalodon teeth were discovered in Isabela, Puerto Rico in a karst limestone deposit being excavated from the Isabela Municipal Landfill site, by Jose A. Lopez on February 6-7 , 1992. The rock layer in which the teeth were found is the upper Aymamon Limestone Formation referred to as the “Taz”. A total of eight Megalodon teeth were found at this location, with three sold into private collections (likely including this tooth), four retained by Mr. Lopez, and one is now owned and displayed by the Michigan State University (MSU) Museum. This particular 5.9 inch Megalodon tooth was originally purchased by Peter Calero in February 1992 from his cousin who was a construction worker at the site, and then sold to another collector in 2011. I recently aquired the tooth from its last owner.

There is also manuscript in the literature that discussed this discovery entitled New Record of the Lamnid Shark Carcharodon megalodon from the Middle Miocene of Puerto Rico, Carribean Journal of Science, Vol 39, No.2, 223-227, 2003. I actually contacted the primary author Dr. Angel Nieves-Rivera via email and he actually friended me on Facebook. Dr. Nieves-Rivera said that though he never saw the teeth that were sold into private collections, this tooth looks very much like the others that he did examine and discussed in the paper "without a doubt". Based on the pretty strong provenance, I believe this is one of the teeth mentioned in the article which is pretty cool.