Grubbing for Shark Teeth with the kids

[joshuaream]

I drove the family 3 hours north to Venice, Florida to introduce them to art/science/Zen-way-of-life that is grubbing... Grubbing for fossils in Florida is perfectly legal in most places, and at the beach it is perfectly easy.

We arrived pretty eary and the competition was already stiff (due to age.) Actually there were many groups of people with everything from pasta strainers to these overpriced scoops that every gas station, hotel, restaurant and newspaper stand in Venice sells. The idea is simple enough, scoop sand, look for teeth. I think you can average two or three teeth an hour with one of these things.



We came prepared to get wet with something more than a slotted spoon duck taped to a broom handle... A pretty standard square pvc strainer with 1/4 inch mesh, and my specially designed floating laundry basket strainer (my daughter picked out the colors for the zip ties and the pool noodle floats.) And three shovels. The square strainer has noodles on three sides, the other side can be jammed into the little sand ledge so sand/shells/teeth can be dumped on the screen and sifted in the water.



Once we found a decent patch of sand just where the waves drop the shells and fossils, we got to work.



There was a pod of dolphins that came to visit, good luck convincing children that they aren't sharks when you are hunting sharks teeth. The dolphins finally got close enough that you could see them playing in the water. They were chasing a school of bait fish and got within 20 feet or so of the shore.



Getting down to work, my shovel is attached to the specialized floating locationary device (milk jug), I can get out in the deeper water take a couple of scoops, leave the shovel and come back with the basket.



The prize:

207 shark teeth.


A handful of sting ray spines and sting ray teeth.


The real prize, some fine quality time with the kids (and the wife, she was the photog on this trip.)

[DesertWalker]

That looks like a heck of a lot of fun.

[Cluton]

Cool Day out! Very nice! Man that is alot of shark teefs!!

[kirby]

That's awesome Joshua. And a great time with the family.

[Cannonman17]

HA! How cool is that! Thanks for taking us with you- that looks like it would be really fun!

[cgode]

wow, that sure is a lot of teeth!....I assume this particular area is known for finding sharks teeth.....any idea why this is THE place to go?....thanks for the tour Joshua!

[joshuaream]

Yes, it was a very nice day with the family. And with 7 to 10 teeth in every load and lots of other kids watching their success, there was enough action to keep both of them interested.

It would be really nice if all grubbing were this easy, no pushing dirt through a screen any broken glass is already polished smooth... The sand is gone with just a couple of easy shakes.

If any of you visit the gulf on vacation, Venice is a nice day trip with the family. Plus, you can find much nicer shells by screening for them vs just walking. We ended up with a couple of bags of complete colorful shells. Since it's relatively easy, you can make do with light weight strainers/sifters. I don't think the floating laundry basket would last 2 minutes on a hard dirt site.

[joshuaream]

Originally Posted by cgode

wow, that sure is a lot of teeth!....I assume this particular area is known for finding sharks teeth.....any idea why this is THE place to go?....thanks for the tour Joshua!

Venice is known as the Shark Tooth capital of the world, and it's due to a couple of neat features of geology and history. This is Caspersens beach, which is probably one of the better ones for fossils since the other beaches now get trucked in sand (or so I've been told.) The sand in some areas is dark grey from tiny bits of fossil bone, teeth, scutes and scales (if you ever see shark "scales" they look just like tiny teeth.)

Geologically there is a huge fossil bed just off shore that continuously repleneshes the beach with small fossils and similar deposits inland in Florida. So you get fossils washing up from the gulf, and fossils washing down in the rivers.

I went diving off the shore several years back and if the conditions are right the bonebed is littered with misc. pieces of fossils, everything from multi-million year old big Megalodon teeth to more recent Mammoth teeth and tusks. My best dive was several nice Megs and lots of brokens, plus a couple of mammoth teeth that other divers didn't want to lug. You don't even notice these small teeth but they are there by probably the billions.

[cgode]

Very interesting, thanks for the explanation Joshua, some of those would be cool to have, especially a megalodon tooth or two.......if I ever get down that way I'll be sure to give it a try!

[FairfieldOH]

That is an awesome haul Josua, and great fun for the family. We go to Navarre every year which is next to Destin and love looking for seashells. We really hoope to finds shark's teeth every year, and Hannah is the only one to ever find one, and it was pretty small. If Venice is in the Gulf, we'll definitely make a day trip out of it next year. I'll have to mapquest it from Navarre. Thanks for the advice!!!