Schoolboy, 12, finds rare shark tooth while walking on Essex beach - and he wants to know more

A UK schoolboy has found a rare shark tooth while walking on the beach. The young explorer was 'randomly digging' in the sand while on a trip to the seaside town with his family and friends when he noticed the tooth.

Kenzie Bryenton, 12, unearthed the sharp fossil during a visit to Clacton Beach in Essex last month and is appealing for more information about his discovery.

Kenzie stored the fossil in a cupboard at home for a period of time before deciding to try and find out more about where it had come from. He has put a post out on a Saxmundham community Facebook page in a search for more information.

Kenzie, from Yoxford, Suffolk, said: "I felt really happy when I found it because I knew it was something old and it could be rare. They can be hard to find. I was just randomly digging one day while I was on holiday so I was not exactly looking for it."

But so far Kenzie has not been able to find out any more detail about the find, including which species of shark it belonged to and how old it is.

The north Essex beaches are known for being a trove of fossilised treasure. In August a 13-year-old from Hemel Hempstead discovered a 10cm long tooth believed to belong to a megalodon shark.

The giant prehistoric shark- known as a 'super-predator'- is said to have grown to about 19.8 metres in length and existed between 20 million and 3.6 million years ago. However, Kenzie said he did not believe his tooth belonged to a megalodon as it was too small to be from that species.