Megladon Teeth

[Otter]

I was watching The National Geographic Channel a few days ago and they were diving NC looking for megladon teeth. After about 45 minutes, they had found one in the muck. Is it that easy? Seems like that would be a way cool thing to have on the mantle. Where is the best place to go.

I do understand that we are talking 0 viz, not sure on depth and current considerations.

TIA

Otter

 

[Wendy]

Two places I know of are the Cooper River in Charleston, SC and Venice Beach, Florida.

 

[Scubaroo]

I haven't done meg tooth diving yet, but I've done shark tooth fossicking in a tributary of the Peace River in Florida - you can do it two ways. This is in tannin creeks averaging 1-5' in depth, you can either use a hand trowel and a sieve or classifier to sort gravels and look for teeth in what the classifier catches, or use a mask (and maybe a snorkel) and just look on the bottom in the shallows over a gravel bed.

I'm a bit leary of using the snorkel - there were some good sized waterholes on the creek we visited, and I wouldn't mind betting they harboured a gator or two. We found about 60 smallish <1" teeth, and a stack of turtle and dugong fossils in a couple of hours. Also an indian flint hand tool.

 

[Raven C]

in Beaufort and Hilton Head SC too.

But, it isn't all that easy for some people.

The diving is very low viz... yes zero. The current is bad sometimes.

You don't dive with buoyancy in most all of these places. You overweight yourself and dig around on the bottom so that makes visibility even worse. We call it braille diving.

It can be very uneasy too. Once we were night diving looking for teeth and fossils (believe it or not I can see in the dark waters with low visibility better at night) and something swam across my body longways. I could feel its drag on me and it was bigger than I am tall. I have never peed in my wetsuit before but I thought I would that night. I am pretty sure it was a shark but I couldn't see it. The area is prevalent for sharks. I just remember holding very still and the thought of what the h3ll are you thinking went through my head plenty. I don't mind diving with sharks. I've done it and with several at a time, but when you can't see them, that makes you feel funny. I don't think it was a fish because of its movements, it was in the sound, and like I said it was over five feet long.

Now, in the Cooper River you have to watch for the Gators. That makes me more nervous than sharks. We have a cute little gator (maybe 2-3 feet long) on the island that I coax to the shore. He's so cute but I am not comfortable diving in low viz with one. Especially these, four/five+ feet long. I had some friends that dove there a few months ago and they said that every time they got into the water, three gators would follow them in. When they got out for surface interval, the gators would go to the bank and lay there and watch them. On the next dive, they were followed in again.

Anyway, if you want to come braille dive in the Carolinas, give me a shout. R

 

[Otter]

I mean these guys picked up a 3 inch tooth in under an hour. Am I defintely going to find one in the first dive or is this a multi-dive adventure??

Otter

 

[Raven C]

Probably you will not find one on the first dive.

There are many factors.

One how good are you finding things underwater? then at zero viz?
Two is the right place/time/current.

Some of the best places are shark infested during the time of the year when it is best to collect them.

Some people have the right spot and won't share the coordinates with anyone.

And, some people just never find them. Sometimes it takes many dives to find them.

Also, the dive instructor for our LDS has been known to pretend to find them. He takes teeth with him on a dive and brings them up and tells people that he found them just because he knows they are supposed to be in the area and he wants people to think he found them and to get him to take them to hunt for teeth.

Be careful. I am willing to bet that it will take a few dives. I have found shark teeth but nothing of large size. But, I have found some not so ancient tiny teeth that I was more proud of finding that the megladon because it was low viz and so tiny and very few people would have found this tooth even if it were laying on the beach in the open. : )

R

 

[ReefGuy]

Scubaroo, that wasn't shell creek, was it? I've heard of people finding megladon teeth and mammoth fossils out there, but haven't done that yet.

I did go to Venice beach once, but failed to find any meg teeth. I hope to go again in the next week or two.

 

[Walter]

My grandmother grew up on Shell Creek. She said it was haunted.

I dive Venice Beach fairly often. I've made 116 fossil dives and have thousands (literally) of fossil shark teeth. Most of them small. I did find a 4 inch meg on August 16, 1998. Some day I may find another as big. I do have other megs, but none as big. I'll probably dive Venice tomorrow and Sunday.

I'm always looking for buddies to join me at Venice.

 

[Scubaroo]

It was Joshua Creek, but I've no idea what part it was - I visited it a few months ago as a passenger on a fossil hunting outing on my first (and so far only) visit to Florida.

Supposedly there are mastodon, camel and horse fossils in the same area.

 

[100days-a-year]

Most rivers in the SE will have teeth in them somewhere.I dive a coule of rivers here locally. The ratio of Meg teeth per dive is over 80% even with new guys/gals.Best tooth so far is 6' even and museum quality.Buddy once got over 40 that were 3" or bigger plus over a 100 smaller and makos.A usual day is a couple megs and 25+1" or so Makos,Hemis,whale,doplhin etc...