Shark Teeth in Florida?

While in Florida, visiting my Godparents, I was fortunate enough to spend a day at the South Brohard Beach in Venice. The day was filled with sun, sand, crashing waves, sting rays, shark teeth, and a few minutes of kite flying.

Did you know that Venice, Florida is known as the Shark Tooth Capital of the World?  I'm not sure why soo many teeth can be found along the beaches of Venice but I do know that shark can lose up to 30,000 teeth in a lifetime. Unlike us humans, sharks have rows of teeth, one right behind the other. When a shark loses a tooth, the one behind it fills in the gap. Wouldn't it be nice to have an endless supply of teeth? Below is a picture of a sand tiger's pearly whites...

Notice the rows of teeth

There are a few ways of collecting shark teeth. As you walk along the beach, you can find some mixed in with the shells, seaweed, and plastic waste recent waves pushed to shore. If you want to stay stationary, you can collect a bucket full of sand as sift through it with the use of some kind of colander or mesh screen. If neither of these options sounds appealing to you, you can do what many others do...stand in the water, collect a bucket of sand, and sift through it. I didn't have a high tech sand flea rake or a floating screen (typically homemade) so I used a small, blue wire basket Aunt Pat picked up at the local Goodwill.

Used for collecting sand and shells

A homemade screen used for sifting

Using my aunt's blue wire basket :)

Overall, the wire basket worked well for finding shark teeth. I would stand in waist deep water, scoop up some sand, gently sway the basket back and forth under the water while the sand and small debris washed away. I found at least one tooth for every 2 to 3 scoops. Once, I even found a fish!

I'm not sure how many teeth I actually collected but I am happy with what I found. If you quickly scroll back up to the picture with all the teeth on it, take a look at the right hand corner of the picture and  you will notice that I also found some stingray tooth plate sections.

A closer look at some of the teeth

Above is a closer look at some of the teeth I found. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Fossilized shark teeth are usually reddish/brown, black, or bluish/grey depending on the type of minerals found in the sediment that they were buried in. One of these days, I hope to find a free afternoon so I can sit down with a guide book and identify what type of teeth I have. Apparently, all of the teeth belonging to a individual species of shark look the same (unlike our teeth consisting of incisors, canines,  premolars, and molars). The only noticeable difference between the teeth in a shark's mouth is the size, not the shape. Once I learn the difference between the shapes of the more common shark teeth found in Florida, it shouldn't take long to group them in to categories based on species.

Common fossils found

Aunt Pat and I spent almost the entire day in the water searching for teeth. The waves were gentle and the sun was bright, making it a relaxing and therapeutic activity. For excitement, we were constantly visited by a group of string rays swimming up and down the coast line in search of shrimp. At first, I was a bit intimidated by the string ray presence but I quickly learned that the string ray didn't care about me. I watched in amazement as a group of 12 string rays swam directly towards me, split into two groups about 3 feet away from me, pass by me on both sides, and regrouped a few feet past me.

I also learned string rays like to jump out of the water. If you've never seen string rays jumping watch this 14 second clip I found on YouTube!

Overall, it was a great day. We stayed until sunset, packed up, and headed home. Here are a few more photos of my beach trip...

South Brohard Beach

Uncle Cliff flying my new kite. He did great!

Shells and teeth left behind as the tide goes out to sea

Sunset :)

Linking up with Really Random Thursday at Live A Colorful Life

Snowbirds

“Snowbirds: A seasonal infestation of Yankees (as well as Midwesterners and Canadians) in sunny warm states in the South such as Florida. A snowbird is an elderly Yankee that migrates down to the South to winter when their natural habitat of New York, Ohio, or Michigan is too cold for them. Their migration begins in early September and lasts until April.”  (urbandictionary.com)

Urban dictionary sure does have a way with defining terms! Last December, my Godparents partook in their first migration south, Brandon, Florida to be exact. Apparently 30+ winters in Green Bay, Wisconsin was enough for this newly retired couple. Thanks to the 2014 polar vortex, I finally talked myself into visiting them before my new job starts. I plan to be back home Friday night or Saturday morning and I have to report for my first day of work bright and early on Sunday. 3 days from now, I'm hoping I have enough will power to leave this 70+ degree weather and head back to the snowy Midwest!!!

Brandon is a nicely located city with amazing attractions roughly an hour drive in all directions. The first item on my "Fun in Florida" list was manatee viewing, so we hopped into the van and headed to Apollo Beach. I saw a dozen or so manatees off in the distance. Shortly before the park closed, a manatee decided to bless us with its presence in the shallows near the shore. I also spotted a green heron near the shore waiting patiently for fish to swim over to it.

After that, we hopped back into the van, drove across Sunshine Skyway Bridge (the bridge in the photo behind the old people) and ended up following some street signs that lead us to Fort Desoto Park. While beach combing, we found some interesting finds.

Whelk egg case

Internally fertilized eggs are surrounded by a transparent mass of albumen, a gel-like material, and are laid in protective flat, rounded egg capsules joined to form a paper-like chain of egg cases, commonly called a "Mermaid's Necklace".

American Oystercatcher

With its highly contrasting dark and white plumage, it is among the largest of North American shorebirds, measuring up to 18 inches in length, and weighing 21 ounces, with a 32-inch wingspan.

Brown Spiny Sea Star

Can often be found in the open because it seeks light. Commonly found in South and West Florida and Alabama.

A blob...

Not quite sure what this is. I'm thinking it is mesoglea, the layer of gelatinous material that separates the inner and outer cell layers of jelly like critters

On the north beach, the crashing waves left a rippled effect on the sand. Other than my time spent in the desert, I've never seen rippled sand like this before.