Shark Teeth Hunting with Kids – 5 Great Locations and Tips

As if going to the beach isn’t fun enough…Do you want to see your kids (and your husband) really light up? Tell them you’re going shark tooth hunting at the beach! How cool does that sound? If you visit our suggested locations and follow these tips, you’re almost guaranteed to go home with some awesome souvenirs – that you and the kids found!

Before our Florida and up the Atlantic coast tour this past February, I was generally unaware how common it is to find shark teeth along America’s coastline – if in the right spot. Despite a boyish fascination with the shark teeth necklaces found in souvenir shops (admittedly lasting into adulthood), my mind would not accept that I would actually find one on my own. Maybe it’s because I had never found one in all the vacations to the beach throughout my life.

But that fact that finding a shark tooth is possible makes sense. I mean, check this out: Sharks have upwards of 3,000 teeth in their mouth at any given time…and they loose around 30,000 teeth in an average lifespan. Yeah, that’s just one shark. There are so many sharks currently alive, that when estimating, scientist just throw out the number “around one billion” when taking a guess! Now… multiply that throughout the centuries…That’s a ton of teeth! Why shouldn’t we be able to find some when walking our beaches?

Actually realizing these statistics, I became way more encouraged that I might actually fulfill that boyhood fascination – as you should be to! Below is a recount of where, when and how we found a ton of shark teeth to give you the best chance of enjoying this hobby with your family. Following the descriptions of the locations, you’ll find some very helpful hints to help your success!

1. Manasota Key, FL & Stump Pass State Park

With over 38 years of various coasts and beaches visited, and not a “found on my own” shark tooth to claim, my skepticism of visiting “The Shark Tooth Capital of the World” was at an all time high. However, on our first day at the beach, I noticed an unusually high number of people combing the beach, with several of them using wire mesh baskets to grab the gravel a few feet into the gentle waves of the Gulf. With my curiosity peaked, I asked a few to see what they were looking for. A few were grabbing sand fleas to save as bait for fishing, but most were using this tool to sift through the sandy gravel for shark teeth. And sure enough – there were teeth in their hands!

Without a tool, I began scouring the seashell debris left at tide marks, and sure enough, came up my first few teeth of my own! The best part – Faith and Fisher loved doing it with me! In fact, they were almost better than I at spotting them as we walked given their closer proximity to the ground.

The next day I used what I could find to make a wire mesh basket to bring to the beach the next day and try the technique of sifting through the tideline. We were hugely successful, and I was officially hooked on shark tooth hunting.

The region from Venice Beach down the coast to Stump Pass Beach State Park as well as into the Peace River is known to be great hunting grounds for teeth. To avoid the crowds, I would highly recommend visiting the State Park as parking is regulated – and go early!

2. Fort Clinch State Park – Amelia Island, FL

Now, feeling like I new what we were doing when it came to hunting for shark teeth, our next stops were Key Largo, Sebastian Inlet State Park and Cape Canaveral – all stops where my new found skills actually proved fruitless. We had an awesome time in these spots, recounted in our blog The A1A and Beyond, yet it was not until we reached Fort Clinch State Park that I began having better luck finding shark teeth. And what luck I had! The park, with its preserved and well maintained pre-Civil War area fort, is awesome in itself. The kids and I had most of our luck finding teeth by scouring the tide line and around the rocks just east of the Fort. Also, searching on my own for some time, I had great luck using my homemade gravel sifter just off the tidal shelf west of the fort. The fossilized teeth here, were much more intact, sharp teeth as they roll down the river and get caught in the sediment deposits. At times, the inlet requires dredging to allow for proper depth of boats – after which is a fantastic time to hunt.

3. Tybee Island, GA

Our travels led us up the coast to Savannah, GA. With a little research, I found that shark teeth can be found on the beaches of Tybee Island. During our beach day here, which proved a bit more difficult to get to and find acceptable parking (look into parking regulations here), I was able to find just a few nice teeth here. Despite the quality, I did not take pictures as the two that I had found here after visiting Fort Clinch did not seem as impressive. I tried sifting through the tidal shelf with the basket to no avail. I found the two teeth in the shallow water at low tide. If you’re in the area it is worth a look – you may have better luck than I had.

4. Folly Beach, SC

By the time we made our way up to the South Carolina coast, I was becoming a self-proclaimed shark tooth geek. I had learned quite a bit about the time periods these teeth came from. Specifically, that the classified Miocene and Pliocene era’s are when the famous Megalodon existed. Along with the time periods, layers of earth are categorized as ancient sea shelfs and existing much farther inland from today’s shoreline that are famous for fossils including shark teeth. One of these layers of earth from the Miocene and Pliocene era, called the Chandler Bridge Formation, runs up the east coast into South Carolina near Summerville. Many tributaries of the rivers and tidal creeks that flow into the Charleston area regularly wash out these ancient teeth. Folly Beach is one of these spots – and it did not disappoint. As far as tooth hunting, it was the perfect time for us to be there. Being that it was late February, it was too cold to play on the beach in our swimsuits, and that meant hardly anyone else was there!

This wide beach was great to just walk up and down the shallow low tide beach water, searching shell debris piles for the teeth. The kids and I had a heyday grabbing beautiful teeth left and right. The hunting was so good I could not stop and outlasted the kids’ attention span, so I continued as the tide went out further. And then there it was… about 30 feet out into the shallow low-tide water, I spotted what could have been an easily over-looked “rock or large shell”. I am so glad I decided to look because what I found was half of a Megalodon tooth! Elated, and somewhat in disbelief, I was actually holding what I had been researching!

With the luck I had at Folly Beach that day, I had to visit a couple more times. These additional visits were later in the season when the weather was much more friendly for beachgoers. Possibly because of the number of people picking up souvenirs, I was not nearly as successful. However, each time we visited Folly the kids and I came away with several great finds. If you are planning to visit, do look up regulations on parking here, especially if it is during good beach weather.

5. Lake City, SC – Yeah Really

As I mentioned before, it is reasonable to think shark teeth can be found just about anywhere along the coast. However, our time on the southeast coast had come to an end, and assumed so had shark tooth hunting. We headed in-land a little over 60 minutes from Myrtle Beach to spend the next three months in Lake City, SC for contract work. While having a simple conversation with a few guys at Lake City Baptist Church about our recent Florida trip, my obsession with hunting for shark teeth came up. And wouldn’t you know it, but through that conversation, the kids and I were given access to private property and hunting for shark teeth less than a mile from the Lake City RV park we were staying at! I’m sorry, but I don’t feel comfortable giving exact locations, but I can say that around 15 years ago a bunch of earth had to be moved and spread out over a large field. Now, after a hard rain and with some patience, shark teeth can be found! The crazy thing is these teeth are white, with many of them still having the brittle enamel intact! Blew my mind, but I was grateful for the offer and added several more teeth to the collection!

Tips for successful shark tooth hunting with your kids

1. Know the beach you are visiting

It is possible to find shark teeth anywhere the ocean meets land, however due to currents, storm patterns, river inlets, etc, there are optimal spots to find them. So don’t promise the kids without knowing there is a good chance of finding some. Keep in mind, after finding teeth outside Ft. Myers, we traveled along the gulf coast to the keys, and up the Atlantic coast until reaching Amelia Island, north of Jacksonville, before finding another shark tooth.

2. Get to the beach an hour before low tide – early morning if possible!

As the water recedes, it mixes and rinses the shell debris and top sand allowing the shark teeth to be more visible. I would often stand with my back to the ocean, watching a pile of deposited shell pieces as the waves rolled up and back, doing the sifting for me. And get there early before the crowd if it is beach season!

3. Plan to be at the beach just after a storm or dredging has occurred

Whether by man or natural causes, the more the sandy sea bottom has been stirred up the better for finding teeth!

4. Learn to look – patiently

When looking for shark teeth on the beach, you will be looking for dark colors – blacks and browns as the minerals over time have fossilized the teeth, turning them dark. Until you find a few, it is hard to get the idea of the white teeth out of your head. Also keep in mind that most the teeth you will find are small. It is estimated that every inch of tooth equates to 10 feet of shark. Below are the absolute biggest I have found – way above the average 1/2-inch teeth you’re likely to find. Once your eye has seen those dark triangular shapes, you’ll be adding to your collection in no time. Oh and when it doubt, pick it up! It may be a shell or rock – or it might just be a shark tooth.

5. Plan a day at the beach – not just shark tooth hunting!

Especially if you have kids under 10 – their attention span just won’t hang even if you are finding teeth left and right. So, bring the sand blanket, shovels and buckets, and plan it as a beach day. This is also a good idea if the hunting doesn’t turn out to be so good – a day at the beach is always a good day!

6. Do something awesome with your finds!

Be sure to try and identify your teeth, then find a cool way to save these unique souvenirs… and share them here with us when you do! We’d love to see what you found and how you might decide to display it! We made necklaces and sent several as travel gifts to friends and family and then got creative from there! Check out this short clip.

We hope you learned some valuable information on a possible new hobby you and your family could pick up. If you liked this article and want more ideas on family friendly adventures, be sure to subscribe to our blog for weekly installments!

Enjoy Your Journey!!