secret to finding shark teeth???

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arby5831

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Location
saint petersburg fl
# of dives
200 - 499
i have been shark tooth hunting for many trips working manily around venice pier and the sevice park. i find lots of small teeth (under 1 inch) and 2 so far between 2 & 3 inches. this is over many dives and many years. is there some way to improve my chances of the larger teeth?? i have tried fanning , digging thru the the rolling sands in spots. is there a better way to improve my chances???
 
Patience, perseverence, keep moving and looking. Or you can book a dive trip with one of the local dive charters. If it looks like a fossil (shiny black), pick it up and look at it. I know people that have hundreds of dives and have yet to find a meg and others that get lucky and find one on their first trip.
 
Stay away from the sand only areas. If you want to find good teeth look for rubbly areas. I have never found a good tooth looking in sand.
 
Personally I've found that the areas where the rubble is in veins (about 4 or so feet wide) between sand areas is the best for me. Keeps them easy to spot and gives an easy way to cover ground. (down one turn and up another) When we get in to large expanses of rubble I get overwhelmed as they could be in any direction. My ADD kicks in and I want to search it all.

I tend to put my face in the sand and look for the smaller ones, (every now and again you come across I big one) as opposed to the folks that swim more and just look for the megs.
 
The only thing that really helps you have a better chance at finding a meg is simply knowing the shape of the teeth. Many of the teeth down there are covered by coralline algae so you cannot even see the black color of the tooth. Also, larger teeth rarely are fully exposed (you will find a part of it sticking out). You really just have to keep your eyes open and look for the shapes of the teeth. I have found that covering a lot of distance will increase your chances of finding larger teeth that are in plain view, but as I said, they are also partially buried. Whether you travel to find them or swim slowly depends on you.
 
I would have to say I agree with Moteman and Walter. There are many local dive charters out there. They have years of experience and can help you find the big teeth. Get your name of the stand by list for the 6/27/09 7th Annual Venice Beach and Birthday Dive Bash

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4011590-post1.html

Capt. Jamie and the Aristrakat has graciously volunteered to donate his boat to ferry divers from shore out to the bone yard. Get your name on the list asap!!!!
 
I second (or maybe 3rd) the advice of going from a boat. People find really nice teeth shore diving but in my opinion, you will improve your chances by getting out a little deeper with someone who knows where the good spots are. I found all of these last Sunday diving with Jamie on the Aristakat. Fossilbabe was also on the boat and found teeth bigger than mine. I guess she just too modest to post a picture.
 

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Here a few pictures of what I found. The first picture is of SOME of the teeth found .
2nd picture is of the 4 1/4 meg
3rd and 4th are pictures of the megs laying on gulf floor.
Over 20 + complete megs found including some nice fossils and one I have to say a KILLER mammoth tooth.
Great weekend and thanks krawdady for your help.
You can also view more of the shark teeth found at
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/venice-fossil-divers/286429-aristakat-charters.html
 

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As others have mentioned look in the black rubble, sand is not your fossil friend.

Someone else mentioned something I found to be key, look for the shape. Focus on triangles, again as mentioned there may only be a small part of the tooth sticking out.

After a few days my family and I are so focused on triangles we see them everywhere, we often find teeth in parking lots and all over the beach.

Of course we also often find triangular rocks everywhere...

venicegunard.jpg

If the picture worked you can see the black rubble, particularly behind the sea robin. If it did not work you can go to my gallery if you want to see how it looks
venicerubble.jpg
 
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