New England fishermen reel in 12,000-year-old woolly mammoth tooth

March 10 (UPI) -- The crew of a New Hampshire fishing boat was dredging for scallops when they pulled up something unexpected: a 12,000-year-old woolly mammoth tooth.

The Portsmouth-based crew, known as the New England Fishmongers, said the 11-inch-long tooth was found off the coast of Newburyport, Mass.

Tim Rider, captain and co-owner of the New England Fishmongers, took the 7-pound item to the University of New Hampshire, where experts identified it.

"I always love thinking about the landscape in New England," UNH Geology Professor Will Clyde told NBC Boston. "With mammoths and mastodons walking around, and in terms of geological times, that wasn't that long ago."

Rider said he has decided to auction the tooth on eBay and donate the proceeds to World Central Kitchen, a charity working to provide hot meals to refugees from the violence in Ukraine.

"I'm a fisherman, but anytime you see families and children struggling in that type of situation, you really try to be thankful for what you have and do what you can to help," Rider told Seacoastonline.