Man discovers prehistoric monster off Florida coast – and it could be 10 million years old

A Florida man has discovered remains of a prehistoric monster that could be 10 million years old.

Alex Lundberg, 29, was diving with his friend near Venice Beach when he pulled a 4-foot-long mastodon tusk from 25 feet below the surface.

The tusk turned out to come from a mastodon — a distant relative of the woolly mammoth — that lived 10 million years ago, Lundberg said.

An expert from Bradenton’s Bishop Museum of Science and Nature verified the discovery, which is considered “super rare” because only prehistoric shark teeth and broken pieces of mammoth tusks are typically found in the area.

Lundberg will have to report his findings to the Florida Museum of Natural History to determine whether it has any scientific value.

Mastodon tusks that are typically only a few inches long have sold for as little as $20 to $350, but Lundberg speculated that the value of his 60-pound tusk is about $5,000.

Alex Lundberg (pictured with the mastodon tusk) said he hoped he could keep the fossil and was surprised that it remained intact when he pulled it out of the water

The part-time diver and fossil hunter said it was surreal that the mastodon’s tusk did not fall apart when he removed it from the seabed.

“I swim over and start fanning it and suddenly a big chunk of it is visible and I think to myself, oh my God, this is a tusk,” Lundberg said. ABC7 News.

“I just show (Morrow) this four-foot tusk and her eyes just light up,” he continued.

‘We made a sling from a beach towel and hoisted it over the side of the boat, as it were. It’s absolutely surreal that it came together in one piece and didn’t fall apart at all.’

Lundberg has spent five years searching for fossils near Venice Beach and said the area is known for thousands of fossilized shark teeth estimated to be about 10 million years old.

Speaking of the tusk, Lundberg said Tampa Bay News: ‘This is once in a lifetime, I’m told.’

The tusk (pictured) weighed about 60 pounds and is likely millions of years old

The mastodon lived 5.4 million years ago until it became extinct 10,000 years ago. It is a distant relative of today’s elephant

Mastodons are an extinct relative of modern elephants that were widespread in North America until about 10,000 years ago.

The fossils are typically found in well-preserved deposits from the Pliocene epoch from 5.4 to 2.4 million years ago and the subsequent Pleistocene epoch that lasted 2.5 to 11,000 years ago.

Mastodon fossils, including tusks, bones and skulls, are common in just four US states: Indiana, Colorado, California and New York, making their appearance in Florida incredibly unusual.

Only about a dozen complete mastodon skeletons have been found in Florida, compared to more than 140 in New York state alone.

The tusk was located about 25 feet under the water off the coast of Venice Beach, Florida

Alex Lundberg (pictured) will have to share his findings with the Florida Museum of Natural History, which will decide whether the tusk is scientifically significant or whether he can keep it

“All paleontologists are looking for that kind of diamond in the rough,” Hunter Windham, an education specialist at Bradenton’s Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, told Tampa Bay.

‘The great thing about Florida, especially if you’re looking for animals that were there during the last ice age, is that the coastline extended much further than it does today. So these animals were walking on dry land as far as 50 or 60 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico versus where we are today,” he added.

Lundberg will have to share his findings with the Florida Museum of Natural History, which will decide whether the tusk is scientifically significant or whether he can keep it, but he remains hopeful it can stay in his family.

Mastodon fossils are typically found in well-preserved deposits from the Pliocene period 5.4 to 2.4 million years ago and the subsequent Pleistocene epoch lasting 2.5 to 11,000 years ago. In the photo: Lundberg’s dog hovers above the mastodon’s tusk

“It’s been rolling around on the ocean floor for at least 10 million years,” he said. USA today.

“Its scientific value is limited, it’s just more of a cool showpiece at this point.”

In a separate interview, Lundberg told Tampa Bay: “I told my girlfriend, this tusk is going to our children and grandchildren, this is a family tusk now. It’s part of the family.’

DailyMail.com has contacted Alex Lundberg for comment.