Fisherman: River yields mastodon tooth

KARNES CITY, Texas (CNN/KENS) - A Texas fisherman said he made a prehistoric discovery while fishing on the San Antonio River.

The big shot in Karnes City, Davy Villanueva said he found the tooth of a mastodon in shallow water.

Even during lunch, everyone wants to see the tooth, which has seven, spiky white objects with the apparent molar on the bottom.

He said he found it fishing along the river and saw it in about a foot of water that was exposed because of the drought.

"It caught my eye," said Villanueva. "I walked in the river and, sure enough, I reached down in there and pulled it out and wow, I never seen anything like this."

Villanueva always finding things.

"He's always like, 'I found this or found that,'" said his wife Patty Cruz.

He says he's also found other bones there, but because of the rains the area is now covered up.

"I don't know; it might be the whole skeleton," said Villanueva.

Villanueva's done his homework. He said he's compared the tooth to images on the Web and he thinks it may be an American mastodon.

For now, Villanueva's keeping the location a secret, and he said he doesn't know whether he wants to sell it or give it to his son.

But the offers have already been coming in.

"He pulled out his wallet and said, 'I'll give you five $100 Benjamin's right here.' And I like, 'Nah,'" said Villanueva.

He thinks it may be 50 million years old and is impressed to have something that's older than Christ.

"He really has something in his hands," said Cruz.

"I think this thing would have eaten the Chupacabra," Villanueva joked, laughing.

As a side note: Villanueva said his 7-year-old son doesn't like the tooth. He also thinks it may be bad luck because of all the rain they've been seeing.