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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!

Hello all, I’ve been interested in fossil hunting since I was a kid and have lived in some areas of the US that offered opportunities to do so. Found a fossilized whale bone in California as a kid and been hooked ever since. Hunted trilobites in Utah as a newlywed and now hunt sharks teeth on the weekends here in Florida with my wife and kids. Would like to put my kids on some larger teeth and larger ice age bones in Florida or make some trips up to the Carolinas. Looking to do some research and plan a good trip before my kinds head off to University. Thanks for creating such a great forum!

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.

Hello everyone, Ward from, well, originally from Arizona, but now living in Maryland. I like to collect it all, Meteorites, fossils, antiquities, WWII relics. Most of the fossils I have in my collection come from the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. A few weeks ago I made a trip to Brownies Beach and came home with a nice little collection of sharks teeth. I had a great time hunting for them and can’t wait to do it again. Love, love, love hunting for stuff.

Hi a I am a fossil collector from South Carolina. I have been collecting fossils for around 2 years now. I got Interested in collecting fossils after I moved down to South Carolina. I like collecting sharks teeth and other fossils. I would say that i'm not a fossil expert but I am good at identifying them. I joined because I thought it would be nice to see what others find and I like to talk about fossils with others.

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!!!

I would REALLY appreciate ANY help to ID these fossils found on Manasota Key Beach this year. PICTURE #1 (IMG_3959.jpg) IS OF ALL. THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE!

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

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.

We recently went camping in Port Huron, MI and found 7 sharks teeth. Last year a boy found a megalodon tooth in the port Huron river. We were near Lake Huron. Crazy right?!?

Hello everyone! Thanks for letting me join. Once a year I get to spend a couple of weeks at Myrtle Beach, and I spend half my time looking for fossils in the sand. There is something just so wonderful about holding evidence of our planet's prehistoric past. I've gotten pretty good at identifying various shark's teeth, sting ray barbs, bone fragments, coral types and such. But lately I've been trying to branch out and investigate other shiny black pieces that I've spent years passing up because I had no idea what they were. I'm hoping the expertise on this site will help me put a name to some of the new things I'm finding. Have a wonderful new year! Paula

Hi Everyone, I'm a new member. Thrilled to be part of the forum! You will probably see me post things about fossil collecting in the mid-Atlantic. Looking forward to learning more about the hobby from everyone! Cheers Matt

Hello everyone... been diving over 30 years...joined to display my fossils...thanks

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 ?

Hi everybody, I recently leased a piece of land that contains the round mountain silt formation (shark tooth hill). Part of the deal with the landowners was to donate a portion of the finds to museums or schools. Does anyone know of any institutions that would be interested in accepting sharks teeth and other fossils? I would need a formal letter of acceptance to provide documentation. Please let me know, thanks Jesse

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.

Hello, all. I am from Maryland but grew up in Sarasota, Florida. I collect Shark's teeth (mostly are from Venice Beach). I am not very experienced at identifying them, though I have a good collection. I decided to join the community because I have had 2 large shark's teeth for quite a long time and want to identify them and get an idea (if possible what they are worth). Your forum was suggested as a way to do this by this site: fossilera.com.

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!