The coolest thing that I have ever found at the beach was a sand dollar: a whole, intact sand dollar. I found it by chance on a night walk down by Huntington Beach in California back when I was like 23 years old.

Sadly, it did not survive the bubble-wrapped trip in my carry-on during a flight from the US to Ireland. The one thing that I always thought would be so cool to find at the beach is a shark tooth.

It was one lucky 9-year-old girl in Maryland that happened to find the mother of all shark teeth: a megalodon tooth!

The surprise find occurred Christmas Day at the beach when Alicia Sampson's husband, Bruce, had taken their daughters out for their Christmas gift. It turns out, the only thing her kids wanted for Christmas was to go "sharkstooth hunting like professionals."

Sampson shared with CBS News that, "As soon as they finished breakfast they got their waders on as quick as they could and headed to the cliffs with my husband Bruce."

That morning, it was only 10 degrees, but that didn't stop the children. At low tide, they were out there in the water, looking for potential fossils.

By 10 am that morning, 9-year-old Molly's Christmas wish had come true when she found a 5-inch megalodon tooth.

According to ABC News, Sampson said, "She told me she was wading in knee deep water when she saw it and dove in to get it. She said she got her arms all wet, but it was so worth it. The look on her face is the only thing that makes me regret not going with them because I can't even imagine the shriek that came from her mouth."

The family then took the tooth over to the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland for identification. As it turns out, each first Friday of the month, they open to the public to bring in their findings to the museum for inspection.

The museum shared about the find on Facebook and were quite pleased!

What do you think of the find? What is the most interesting thing you've found at the beach? Let us know!