Search the Community

Good afternoon everyone! Hit the beach this morning, big tides and strong winds had done a grand job of scouring out the cliffs and teeth littered the beach. The majority were Isurus, one baby Meg, few broken Otodus Obliquus and one Carcharodon Carcharias (showing faint striations) being the stand out teeth. Also found a couple of fish vertebrae and some ray plate chunks. One unknown tooth, any ideas on this one? It is a lot broader than the usual Isurus. Few photos of the beach showing the red crag cliffs with underlying London Clay. Broken WW2 pillbox lying on the beach. 3 years ago that was where the edge of the cliffs were! Thanks for reading everyone!

Are there a lot of cretaceous era sharks teeth along the beaches near Belmar? A friend said he found about 300 teeth over time there and I wondered if it was from older or newer sharks. Thank you!

Hi Folks, Just wondering if anyone has been to Purse State Park in Charles County, MD since the covid 19 pandemic started. Maryland recently opened all other state parks as part of their phased reopening, but just wondering if this applies to wildlife management areas. Purse is no longer a state park but I think the name is still commonly used. Thanks Matt

OK, So I've been tasked with giving a presentation on my sharks teeth & bone collections that I've found over the years. I wanted to give a good bit of background and try to alleviate many questions. I am having trouble classifying sharks teeth as a fossil. Are they a Cast? I also read about permineralization...but I don't think that's what most teeth are. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as general research had me more confused than when I started. PS, I'm a Green Mill Run/Aurora local that spent more time in the creek than in classes while at ECU.

Me and my fiance headed into Wauchula this afternoon to try to find some good gravel spots at the behest of @Shellseeker and his helpful advice given to me on my last post. I have been to the Peace a total of 4 times, all within the span of a month or two because these water conditions are just way too good to pass up. Every time I come back to the river I have a new game plan and every time I actually get TO the river the plan goes out the window. Today's adventure was no different. We pulled up to Wauchula Riverside Park (Crews Park?) and were pleasantly surprised with the condition of the park. I had read about some sketchy things happening in that area and while we were unloading our gear a police cruiser circled the lot twice, it made me feel safe about leaving my vehicle. The park seemed newly renovated so I was assuming these past cases of break ins and theft occurred before then. We walked over to the boat ramp and prepared to search for a gravel bed north of the park; that is until we came across a friendly kayaker and her son. She noted that down the river a little was an island that her fossil hunting friends liked to dig at but had to swim to get to it in higher water season since they didn't use kayaks. We were not prepared to swim but the thought of a glorious "fossil island" that my fiance can set her chair up on and watch me sift gravel for 8 hours was just too enticing and we abandoned our upriver plans and decided to head down towards the bends. We found a small sandy trail to take us as far as we could on dry land before we had to make any attempts into the river, there were many downed trees and root systems that would make walking the dry area pretty difficult. This trail lead us into some of the highest and thickest grass I have walked in. I felt like I was going to be attacked by a pokemon... or a snake... but we were lucky and did not have any issues. I think this is a trail in the Peace River Park. Anyhow, we found a nice spot to cross the deep part of the river and found ourselves on the opposite side of the bank, it only came up to our thighs but there was zero visibility in the water. Then suddenly, a dad and his kids make an appearance with their fishing poles... After a quick chat we learned he was heading to a similar spot around the bend to fish a hole... You should have seen the look my fiance gave me. How in the world would we be able to dig for fossils in the same area that this guy is fishing in deep holes?! WHERE IS FOSSIL ISLAND? My hopes were dashed, my fiance wanted to go back to gardner, and there was a huge downed tree in the middle of the river with no gravel in sight. TFF what would you have done?! I continued on. Luckily it paid off. We hopped up on the legal side of the bank and walked 20 feet further to the end of the first bend. It was there! Sticking out of the middle of the river like a huge zit ready to burst with meg teeth WE FOUND FOSSIL ISLAND! We hopped back into the river and crossed the deepest part to get to fossil island, it was about knee deep and the entire bottom sounded crunchy which my trusty fence post confirmed to be a pretty significant gravel layer. Fossil island was pocketed with holes from other diggers but I was more interested in the deepest part off the side of fossil island. I figured when the water level is up this deepest spot will get un-diggably high but since it is so low right now I can get 2 to 3 feet into the gravel before the water started getting too deep for my shovel. At this point the JoshRockz excavation project was in full swing. I was digging in this layer and in the first couple sifts we were already finding larger than our usual size teeth. We got about a foot down before my fiance decided to go surface collect and I was getting alot of clams in my shovel loads but not alot of teeth, I widened out my hole and noticed I was pulling out chunks of matrix as shown in IMG 6228. I will be displaying this piece, I have not encountered the hard rock matrix; I have only really encountered the thick clay in the deep areas of Gardner and I imagine this is how it weathers out of the walls of the peace. Around these pieces of matrix I started to pull up many megaladon frags and hemis along with smaller teeth of other variety and quality. These are the largest teeth we have found thus far and I am so happy with our first dig in this location! The only downside was that this area in general has alot of broken glass that fortunately did not harm me but definitely made me reconsider not wearing gloves in the river. I also pulled up about 15-20 iron nails that were at times in a pretty dangerous condition and large. Tetanus city. This was 2-3 feet down into the gravel I was pulling these nails out so I am a little intrigued as to where they came from. All in all I will be returning to Wauchula in the future and I cant thank Jack enough for his advice. Oh, Turns out the largest hemi (also) the largest intact tooth that we found (second left in 6226) was surface collected right on the top of fossil island by my fiance. Strange are the ways of the peace river... ps I am going to get a kayak because all of this could have been avoided and we could have been there in 5 minutes if we had one.

Hi everyone! I am a long time lurker of this community, I browsed these forums endlessly on advice, pictures, and video from many members who made me feel really confident in going out and actually getting into rockhounding. Me and my fiance wanted to document our trip to the Peace River in Florida. So we did. This is our first upload to our channel, and hopefully we will be uploading more as we go on more adventures. My goal with this video was for people to be able to see what it would be like to pull up to a boat ramp and go look for sharks teeth. We found a really nice young whale or dugong vertebrae, its a beautiful peace . We have only been hunting these past couples weekends as the water level has been the lowest its been since we've start this hobby and we have been pleasantly surprised with the kindness of the people around us, but also the success we have had in the river. We found our first juvenile meg tooth on our first dig in the river near the brownville boat ramp. It was super fun and now im really hooked on this river! I have attached the video below, let me know what you think? Youtube Link!

Hey everyone. I have recently gotten my family into the study of paleontology, but so far, we've only bought fossils online. i.e fossilera. For spring break planning on going Sharks teeth hunting in Summerville South Carolina and are looking for good spots to find sharks teeth and other things. Does anyone here have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Any help anyone could provide to help identify the species of the teeth I found I would greatly appreciate it. I believe #1 is a Tiger Shark. Thank you in advance for any help.

Hi Everyone! I’m new here and hope to get some knowledge. I have been an avid shark tooth hunter for about 6 years. I’m looking to expand to all fossils though, I’ve done lots of research lately and would love to know more about shark tooth hunting in particular. I have mostly only been on beach to look but have researched and would love to find the bigger teeth and Megalodon teeth and whatever other fossils I can find. My question is, I will be going to Myrtle Beach in the next couple of weeks does anyone have any suggestions to go look for the teeth I mentioned above near there besides on the beach? Also I’m looking to go to Summerville soon but not on this trip. Thanks guys, I’m happy to have found this place.

Going to post this multiple times due to multiple images. There are just a couple here that I am most curious about but would love any and all feedback. I will post in the order of priority for lack of better words. For some context, took the family to the peace river up in Zolfo Springs, near Arcadia. We found approx 50 teeth, mostly small but some cool ones. Lots of Ray plates and some bones. Most of these are placed up against a US penny simply for a size reference. Any help in identifying would be much appreciated. Thanks all!!!

Hi all! Have been out the past couple of weekends to my local sharks teeth spot - Bawdsey in Suffolk, the first three trips i spent on the first area of the beach directly below the red crag cliffs. Found a few but none of really any quality. Best one was a very pretty patterned Carcharocles auriculatus ? (Can anyone confirm?) seen in the first photo top left, and a very worn large tooth (seen in the second photo, looks a bit Meggy?) - I have no idea about species on this one! As well as the usual Carcharias hopei and Striatolamia macrota, a couple of fish verts, some seed pods and ray teeth. Had my most productive day ever yesterday though, after not finding to many previously in my usual spots, went to a spot slightly further along and ended up with 156 teeth in about two hours!! None that were out of the ordinary however just the usual species. Some kid on the beach who was also searching had a perfect Otodus, it must have been nearly 3 inches long!! I was rather jealous of him! Can anyone ID the larger tooth that is bottom left? Still after the 6 inch Meg from this spot! Thanks for reading!!!

Found several fossils this morning shark tooth hunting on the beach and was hoping y’all might could tell me what they might be , thanks !

All, im a newbie to the forum and after some advice. 40+ years of fossil hunting and I have yet to find a sharks tooth. Where are the best places in uk? I live on south coast.

Greetings - I have had fun with family walking the beach at Casey Key near Venice Beach, Florida. I have been enjoying the conversations here and am hoping you all may have ideas about these finds. I am posting a few overview photos - labelled - and then a few close-ups - I have more photos (larger, too). Most of these are under 6 cm (1.c which looks like a hollowed-out bone is 19 cm.). I believe 1.a ia shark's tooth and 4.c is a stingray plate. Thank you for any assistance... will look forward to your ideas - of them all the one labelled "H" (looks like some sort of claw) and item 3 "some sort of tooth" may be the most interesting? I have three others I would like to post. Noelle

So I am pretty new to this whole shark tooth hunting thing, but after my first time at Venice Beach I was hooked. Unfortunately I live in PA, so a trips to the beach are far and few between. Anyway, with the semester ending soon I will have some time 'off' for a few weeks and wanted to get some advice about maybe taking a day trip to Calvert Cliffs. If I go I plan to go to Brownies Beach and spend the day. I'd like to plan to go mid-week on a day when the tide is receding around sunrise, head south for a few hours and make my way back before it comes all the way back in, take a break for a bit and then do some more looking as it is going back out before dark and I head back home. Does this sound like a decent plan?...I'm also not sure how/if the cold weather effects the soil around the cliffs. Does it freeze and get much harder, thus teeth are not as easily exposed and kicked into the surf? I'd appreciate any advice you have! Thanks!

I found this Ptychodus marginalis on a sandbar on a river this spring after a large flood. The river cuts through the lower Smoky Hill Chalk of Northwest Kansas. After I picked it up, I asked myself "is this real?" It is!!! 54mm across.

These are a few other fossis I have found in the past .I have collected fossils here for nearly 40 years but most of them have been given away or donated to a local museum here in Birmingham . The sharks teeth are Cretaceous form the Mooresville chalk formation . The Echinoid was found at St.Stephens Quarry years ago in the Yazoo Clay . The little Trilobite came from a site near Russelville in the Tuscumbia Formation . I have found fossils all over , these are the ones that are most convenient to photograph at this time . The arrowhead was found in a creek while collecting fossils .

These are some of the fossils I found a couple of weeks back . Wonder if anyone knows what the last tooth is ?

I made a trip over to Green Mill Run in NC this past weekend to look for fossils in the creek. My son and I had a wonderful time and found some great sharks teeth and other stuff. I'm stuck though on trying to identify this tooth. It does not look like any of the other teeth that I have found in the creek. Could it be a land mammal tooth? Thanks in advance for any ideas that you may have.

Recently moved to NC and my husband and I have have found some pretty neat things on Onslow Beach (Camp lejeune). We would love help identifying some of them as we are new to the world of fossil hunting. The only one we are pretty sure on is the bottom right being a crocodile tooth? Thanks in advance!

Hi, Most of these specimens i have found at Bawdsey, Suffolk. Is anyone able to give an identification on them please? After looking on the internet a bit, i think the majority are Cosmopolitodus Hastalis? However i am probably completely wrong! There are no visible serrations on any of the larger teeth. The first tooth was given to me, so i have no idea of where it was found. I will attach more photos in the thread. Thanks.

Hi everyone, I just got back from my morning trip to the beach and am thrilled to have found another nice tooth. Last night I went out and the tide was much too high, I ended up leaving after a few hours with only a few small teeth. As I searched the beach for the first hour this morning, I started to worry that my luck might finally be running out. Thanks to Memorial Day weekend the beach was absolutely packed, which was an unpleasant change of pace from usually having the beach mostly to myself. As I started to lose interest and consider heading back to the car, I decided to check up higher in the dryer shell deposits as opposed to where the waves were reaching. As I walked a few feet up the beach, I almost immediately stumbled across this tooth, lying completely exposed with footsteps surrounding it a few feet in each direction. The tooth was almost fully dried out at this point and must have been sitting there for close to an hour as the tide had receded 10-20 feet down the beach. Tourists looking for shells littered the beach in every direction, I was in shock that nobody had seen this tooth all morning! I have attached a photo of the tooth as it laid in the sand upon finding it. Unfortunately the tip is a little damaged, however the root is probably in better condition than every large tooth I've found here. Additionally, the coloration of the tooth is very different compared to the jet black teeth I am used to finding. Although I didn't end up finding much else in the next hour or so (a few small teeth), I'm really happy I decided to head out this morning. It's funny how when the hunting has been really good, just one bad day can really kill your confidence. At the same time though, just one good tooth brings it all back! I'll be back out there soon... Cheers!

Hi everyone, I found this tooth yesterday at the beach in Wilmington, NC. I initially thought it was broken, but then saw that it was actually very warped with all of the serration remaining. After some googling I've found that they are known as pathologic teeth. If anyone has any information about pathologic teeth I would be super interested to learn more! Also would be interested to hear opinions on ID. Angy?

Hi all, ToothMan here. Last Thursday I had the day off from work, and ventured back to one of my favorite hunting grounds, Cove Point. It was beautiful out, sunny and 80 degrees! I got out there around ten, and began walking the beach. There was what appeared to be a school field trip out and about in the form of 20 or so elementary aged children and some chaperones. It looked like they had probably come out to see the lighthouse and to spend a few minutes on the beach. I saw some of them collecting shells. There was also a dog running about with them on the beach, that I ended up running into again later after everyone was gone. I walked along the point and was finding some smaller teeth, but it was high tide and very windy out. This meant bigger waves and not a lot of material on the beach to search through. The large waves kept me from looking too hard in the surf. After a little bit, I decided I would come back later and look more. I walked past the field trip group again, and asked one of the adults if anyone had found anything good. They said the kids were looking for sharks teeth, but weren't having any luck. I had found a few small ones, and I already have a ton, so I asked if any of the kids might want some. They were ecstatic! I opened up my hand and let them pick whichever ones they wanted! I then explained some tips in finding them, and wished them luck. They were so happy! I was glad to pass on some of my smaller finds and maybe get some of them more interested in fossil hunting. So then I went home for a little bit, planning to return later. After a few hours, I headed back to the beach. The tide had gone out by now, the beach was empty, and the wind had died down a bit. The conditions were prime for fossil hunting!! I made my way back to the point, by the lighthouse, and starting finding some decent teeth. A few hemis and two smaller makos, one being the smallest I've ever found! I'm not sure if these are smaller in size being posterior or if they are perhaps from juvenile specimens? Perhaps someone can enlighten me. Anyways, the dog I saw earlier with the field trip group was still here, but everyone else was gone! I figured he must not have been any of theirs, and maybe got lost. I hung out with him for a bit but no one else was around looking for him. I made my way around the rocks and seawall to the other side of the lighthouse where there's another long stretch of beach. This beach runs all the way past the Dominion natural gas plant and up towards calvert cliffs and flag ponds. I check this side often, but I never go too far. The dog followed me over, and took off way down the beach! There's nothing else close to civilization down this way aside from a trail through the woods leading back to the very end of cove point road. I knew if I didn't go get the dog, he would be lost and probably never found. I followed him for probably a mile before I could get him to come back with me, thus putting my fossil hunt on hold, but I just couldnt leave him! He had no tag, only a collar. Getting him to follow me back was tough. Eventually we made it to the trail, but he was so tired out he laid down in the shade and wouldnt budge. It was so hot out and the sun shining hard. I knew he was in trouble so I left him, making my way back to my car about a mile away to get some water for us and a rope I could leash him with until I could find the owner. It took me about 45 minutes to get back but he was gone! I really hope hes okay and someone else found him. I did all I could do. At least I got him to come back closer to where there are houses and people. After that, the hunt was back on! I returned to the point, this time bringing a small pole net with me. I took some suggestions from my last post from you guys and got a little strainer type net on a pole. It really helped me scoop items out of the surf! Its come in so handy, as most times im out there its tough to grab things before another wave takes it away. And that's where I find all my large teeth just inside the water line where the waves crash. About an hour into searching later and I spotted this huge mako!! I scooped it with the net and pulled it out onto the sand! Its a beautiful specimen with nice color and a huge curve to it! All in all, I was pretty happy with the day. Found a few nice mako's, I love the huge one and the colors on the little one are spectacular!! I got so sunburned while I was out, a week later and I'm still peeling! Totally worth it though. Well that's my trip report guys, thanks for reading and ill see you on the next one! Some pictures below!