A little history on shark teeth…
Sharks like warm and shallow water, and there’s a lot of that in Florida. Also, ten million years ago, Florida was submerged under water teeming with sharks. As the water subsided, many species of sharks died out.
Sharks can lose between 20,000-25,000 teeth over their lifetime. They are constantly losing teeth and growing new ones. When a tooth falls out, it gets covered in sediment which protects it. Then, permineralization replaces the inside of cells with mineral crystals. The silica, calcites, etc. in the minerals determine the color. The black teeth are about 10,000 years old. Those are primarily the ones we find, and a lot of them are from prehistoric sharks. That continues to amaze me!
Both last year and this year are supposed to be good “hunting ” years as there is off-shore dredging going on. I’ve read differing accounts on the dredging…one us that they do it to deepen the channel in the St. Mary’s River for the submarines going to and from Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base. Another is that it’s done to replenish sand on the beach. I like to think it’s done for the first reason and the beach benefits from it. The work is done by the Army Corp of Engineers and costs millions of dollars. It might be worth it if I could find a few more teeth!
Ashley’s veteran shark tooth finding friend texted her a photo of six teeth she found this morning. I asked Ashley to find out where she found them and her friend replied, “Just off Reefer Street”. I asked Tim to Google Reefer Street. He did, but didn’t get any results. Finally it dawned on us that if you have to ask where Reefer Street is, perhaps you don’t belong there.
Knowing that Ashley was home with a sick child, Tim and I took off on an expedition without telling her. Well, it didn’t pay off as we didn’t find a single tooth. I’m not telling her that either. She might say we got what we deserved.
That was most interesting- thank you for that. You may not have found any teeth today but you have educated one more person on shark teeth hunting.
Thank you.
By the way, that bird can’t read!!
LikeLike
Amazing! I think I’ll go whale watching tomorrow but will not get close enough to see teeth unfortunately. I was thinking about how that bird doesn’t know she is not supposed to be there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am from Florida but never knew all that about sharks’ teeth. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! This is a whole new chapter about the history of the Sharks, unknown for me! Thank you, Cathy! It looks such a fun! I am so ready for shark-teeth-hunting in Florida!😀🐋🌞
LikeLike
C’mon, aren’t you dying to know where Reefer Street is??? I am! Did deeper and then educate us about that in your next installment.
LikeLike
Love your posts. Thanks
LikeLike
Love your posts. Thanks.
LikeLike