Molly Sampson asked her mum for a pair of waders for Christmas so she could hunt for a tooth from the monster prehistoric shark – and against all the odds she found one on her first try

Molly went shark tooth hunting on Christmas Day (Image: Alicia Sampson)

A nine-year-old girl who told her mum she was “looking for a meg” at the beach on Christmas Day found exactly that, in what’s being described as a “once-in-a-lifetime kind of find”.

Molly Sampson was wading in knee-deep waters at Calvert Beach in Maryland, US, when she found a five-inch long fossilised tooth from a megalodon, a giant species of shark now believed to be extinct.

The fearsome megalodon could grow up to four times the size of a Great White Shark, and ruled the oceans from 23 to 3.6 million years ago .

Some cryptozoologists claim that some examples of the monster shark still prowl the ocean deeps to this day, but no hard evidence of their existence has ever been found.

The gigantic shark was the supreme predator of its time (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Nevertheless, some believe the megalodon might be out there – citing the example of the megamouth shark, which was only discovered in the 1970s.

Molly has always been determined to find one, and “spoke the shark into existence” on Christmas morning, says her mum Alicia.

Molly and her sister Natalie has always wanted to “go sharks tooth hunting like professionals” and had asked for insulated chest waders as a Christmas present.

Molly discovered a five-inch tooth, which was once in the mouth of a now-extinct megalodon shark. (Image: Calvert Marine Museum/Instagram)

No sooner had Molly unwrapped the gift than she was off to the beach to find her “meg”.

“She told me she was wading in knee deep water when she saw it and [dived] in to get it,” Alicia told CBS News. “She said she got her arms all wet, but it was so worth it.”

Molly, who shares her dad’s interest in palaeontology, has found over 400 other shark teeth in the past, but nothing so impressive as the whopper she discovered at Christmas.

After the family showed the incredible find to Stephen Godfrey, curator of palaeontology at Calvert Marine Museum, he warned that fossil hunters shouldn’t get their hopes up for more finds like Molly’s.

“People should not get the impression that teeth like this one are common along Calvert Cliffs,” he said.