Bites of Amelia
Dickie Anderson
A lagniappe of what makes Amelia Island and Nassau County a special place to live and visit.

Exclusive to EnjoyAmelia. © Dickie Anderson at www.dickieanderson.com

Beach Combing and Shark’s Teeth

Beach combing is addictive. If there is a beach, I am there. My bare feet have found sandy, and sometimes rocky, beaches around the world. Once on a beach, the search begins for treasures the sea might have tossed to the shore.

Most of my treasures are shells. The shells collected through the years fill baskets, bowls and jars throughout our home. Some can be identified -- what they are and where they were found. The amazing colors and sculpted shapes never cease to fascinate me.

When we moved to Amelia Island and found out there were shark’s teeth to be found, we were determined to collect these fascinating treasures. Seeking the ancient teeth of prehistoric creatures became an obsession.

What is it about sharks' teeth that so fascinate folks? There is a mystique about these ancient fossilized teeth that draws us to the edge of the sea at low tide in hopes of finding one or two. The teeth can be the size of a pin or as large as 5 inches long. What truly is amazing is these teeth are from creatures that lived in the waters off our coast from 10 to 50 million years ago.

Think about it, that is really old. Holding a hardened and shiny earth-toned tooth, its serrated edges still in tact, one can't help but be full of awe at something that has survived longer that any of us can imagine. Every animal that walks, swims or flies has an ancestor that lived in the ice ages. And the shark is one of the oldest.

Small wonder they survive. Sharks can reach a length of 70 feet, and an average shark produces 24,000 teeth in a 10-year period. As a tooth is lost, another moves forward to take its place.

The largest teeth come from the megalodon shark, a predecessor of the great white shark.

Amelia Island offers great opportunity to find these ancient teeth. The St. Mary’s River separates Amelia Island and Cumberland Island. The nuclear submarine base in Georgia, Kings Bay, dredges regularly to maintain a channel deep enough for its subs. The dredging ends up on the beaches of Amelia Island and yields sand full of prehistoric fossils.

There is a talent or charm to finding them. It has taken us many years for us to have any luck at all. What's the trick? Some seem to have a magical karma that leads them to the sharks' teeth, while others search and search with no luck.


Dickie Anderson is a free-lance writer, columnist for the Fernandina Beach News-Leader and teaches writing classes and workshops on Amelia Island. For more information visit www.dickieanderson.com. Her four books are available at area book and gift stores.