Monday, April 30, 2012

The Shark Tooth Gods Smiled ...

Well, at least they smiled on my wife! We went back to a local nature park that allows beach access and started walking. On the way to the beach, we passed a large tidal pool and were amazed at the number of crabs we saw cruising around in the pool. Welcome to Maryland! Once we got to the beach, we started our hunt. I wear my trusty Muck Boots and try to walk along the "debris line". This in the edge where the shells / junk / fossils get caught up in the wave action and there is usually a drop of of a few inches to a few feet, A lot of the heavier shells tend to get stuck in this area. I figure that big TEETH will be there, too. It's difficult to see into the water, even if the water is clear. The constant wave action means you just have to peer in between the small waves. It's a great plan on paper, but, at least for me, it doesn't usually pan out.
Upper L - Sand Tiger Shark. 3 Hemipristis. 5 Tiger Shark. Lower row - Mako Shark. All 13 Million year old Miocene Era fossils

My wife decided she would just walk along the high tide mark and look for stuff laying on the beach. "Hah", I thought. "What a foolish idea. If there were ANY teeth up there, they have long since been picked over by the other folks who have tramped up and down the beach. Silly woman." A few minutes later - "Oooh - look at this one" She reaches down and plucks a mako tooth from the sand. The first one we've ever found. Hmm - obviously a once-ina-lifetime event. "Oooh - this one is bigger." Another nice Mako. Maybe she's on to som ... "Oh my God Joe - look at this one" She reached down and plucks a magnificent (for us) 2" Mako from the sand. A really nice speciman. The kind you hope to find, but rarely do.
I think this is a Hemipristis, or Snaggletooth
Our trophy Mako. OK - her trophy Mako

We ended up the day having found more bigger (again - big for us) teeth than we've ever found before. [Actually, we ended the day with my wife finding more than we usually do. I didn't add very much to the total haul, but I did a great job of carrying the jackets in my backpack, and occasionally getting water out] We tallied 6 Makos, 5 Tigers, a couple of Sand Tigers, a bunch of misc. teeth, some cool sea glass, a few nice Ray skutes, and some very nice coral. On the way out we stopped by the tidal pool and I scooped out a crab. Tried his damnedest to pinch me, much to my wife's pleasure. Put him back after taking his picture.

5 comments:

Mark Kautz said...

Score.....And all this time I thought you had to take them out of the sharks mouth. Silly me.

Mark

cofisher said...

Amazing Joe. I've never seen shark teeth other than in shark's mouths in pictures. I'm enjoying this as much as you.

Fishing Blog said...

Thats awesome dude I seen them of tv they can be quite valuable!

Kim@Snug Harbor said...

That's very cool. I'm always looking for new beaches to add to my "gotta go there" list. We found some great shark teeth in Englewood, Fl last year.

CrazyCris said...

Coming in from the Outdoor Blogging Network (congrats on having your post listed!), those shark teeth look something fierce! I have vague memories of finding shark teeth on the beaches of the Chesapeake Bay as a child... I've never found one in the Mediterranean though, sad! (I live in Spain now). But then the most common shark along my coastline would probably be the Lesser-spotted dogfish, and their teeth are so tiny they probably would be almost impossible to find in the sand! :p

Is it complicated to identify them? I love how you list the various species for the teeth...

Have you ever participated in a blogging marathon? I can't help but think that a post of shark teeth would be a great way to celebrate World Oceans Day in a few weeks! ;o)
http://crazycrishereandthere.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/coming-soon-4th-oceanic-blog-thon.html