One of my favorite activities here in St Augustine is shark tooth hunting. This might sound like a strange thing to do, but our beaches are great for finding fossilized shark teeth, bone fragments and fascinating seashells. Hunting for shark teeth in St Augustine is fairly easy if you know how to do it and where to go.
It’s no secret that our beaches are beautiful, but even a lot of people who live here in St Augustine don’t realize that there are shark teeth all through the sand and often sitting on top of it. I’ve got all the details on how to find shark teeth and WHERE is the best shark tooth hunting in St Augustine, Florida. Yes, I’ve got my favorite spot (and I’ve shared it below) but there are a few great places to go for shark teeth.
Why Shark Tooth Hunting?
Thrill of discovery and the appeal of fossils is something that people all over the earth are into. A lot of people don’t think of finding shark teeth as finding fossils, but they are just that. It’s very rare to find white shark teeth fresh from a recently living shark. Finding fossilized shark teeth though, that’s a different story. You can find tiny little pointy shark teeth or a huge worn down shark tooth from what you can only imagine was a gigantic specimen.
I feel like every time I find a shark tooth I learn something, either about the fossilization process or about the history of our planet. How cool to be continually in awe just by going to the beach. So, where can you actually find shark teeth in St Augustine? I’ve got the answers!
Where to go Shark Tooth Hunting in St. Augustine
There are a few options for where to go shark tooth hunting in St Augustine, but not every beach has lots of them, ready to find. So you do need to approach looking for shark teeth with realistic expectations and high hopes. Here’s where to go to find shark teeth:
Anastasia State Park
I love Anastasia State Park! It’s on Anastasia Island across from downtown St Augustine. Located very near the St Augustine Lighthouse, the beaches of Anastasia State Park is beautiful and pristine. Due to the currents just off the coast, the tides swirl just right to unearth shark teeth in the sand. The orange and white coquina sand swaths are the best areas to look for shark teeth at Anastasia State Park. The pure white or gray sand may have a fair number of seashells, but these spots are less likely to contain shark teeth too.
St. Augustine Beach
Before the beach renourishment of 2024, St Augustine Beach from the fishing pier all the way to Ocean Hammock Park was a great place to go shark tooth hunting. With the newly added sand from the dredging, the area from the pier to A Street is very different, and while there are lots of shells now, there aren’t as many teeth to find… right now. As the weather wears down the renourishment and finds balance, shark teeth will no doubt make their way back to the surface. And there probably are some there too already!
Fort Matanzas Beach
At the south end of Anastasia Island is Fort Matanzas National Monument. A part of the National Park Service, this beautiful peninsula beach is a great place to find shark teeth in St Augustine. Most National Park sites require that things are left as they are found, but here, like up at Cumberland Island National Seashore, you can remove shark teeth, bone, and unoccupied seashells. Beachcombing here is awesome! Along the Matanzas Inlet area near the bridge is the best part of this beach to find shark teeth.
Vilano Beach
Opposite of Anastasia State Park across the mouth of St Augustine Bay is Vilano Beach. From the beach park at the point and all along the different beach parks and access points, you should have great luck with shark teeth hunting. The areas that haven’t had heavy renourishment are the best ones to find shark teeth, but there really are no rules to where they’ll surface. I’ve never had a visit to Vilano Beach where I haven’t found a shark tooth.
GTM Reserve Beaches
As you approach the northern boundary of St Johns County you come to the GTM Research Reserve. The beaches here at the GTM are AWESOME for finding shark teeth. This is where I fell in love with shark tooth hunting. You need to pay to park your vehicle ($3 in an envelope) then you’ll cross the highway to the most beautiful, undeveloped beaches of St Augustine. There are a lot of shark teeth here in the coquina sand, so it won’t take long to find some nice ones!
How to Actually Find Shark Teeth
It has to be said that in general you can’t just walk onto the beach and have all the shark teeth come to the surface, presenting themselves to you with a halo of light. BUT there are for sure some good ways to look for a shark tooth or find lots of teeth when you’re in St Augustine. What you’re looking for isn’t a gleaming white shark tooth, but typically black or charcoal colored teeth. They’re fossils, remember?
Here are the three key elements to help your eye find shark teeth among shells and sand:
- Shape – the actual shape of the object, it’ll be pointed like a tooth
- Sheen – fossilized shark teeth are very old and have had their initial material replaced with minerals over thousands of years, so they tend to be quite shiny
- Color – if you find a shark tooth in a mass of sand, it’ll stand out because it’s a very different color than the rest of the pieces of shells; usually being black, charcoal or maroon
Once you teach your eyes to look for these visual anomalies in sand and shell spots you’ll start finding shark teeth on the beaches of St Augustine.
Timing and Conditions for Finding Shark Teeth
First thing to keep in mind is that the early bird catches the worm… or the shark tooth. Lots of people walk the beaches of St Augustine as the sun is coming up each day, many are hopeful to find a shark tooth. Being on the beach nice and early is a great way to set yourself up for success. Also, keep in mind that looking for shark teeth mid-week during the off season is the best time to wander our beaches, as there are fewer people out on them, so you’ll hopefully be one of the few sets of eyes scouring the sand.
Best Times of Year for Finding Shark Teeth in St Augustine
The two best times of the year to look for shark teeth in St Augustine are during hurricane season and early spring. Summer is fine too and it’s always helpful when the sun hits a shark tooth and makes it shine, but there are lots of people on the beach during the summer. If you can visit St Augustine directly following a hurricane or noreaster storm, you’ll probably have great luck. We find the largest shells and most shark teeth the day after a big storm has passed.
When the waves can really churn and shift the sands just off the high tide line, that’s when the shark teeth really show up. We don’t want to just dig dig dig and ruin the beach, so allowing nature to run its course is the best way to find teeth (and conch shells too!). Yes, it can be cold in early spring, but the lack of people and presence of great waves makes for easy shark tooth hunting.
Optimal Weather and Tide Conditions
The number 1 best type of day to find shark teeth on the beach is on a sunny, breezy day. The reason for this is because the texture of fossils , and specifically fossilized shark teeth, is a bit shiny/glossy. When shells are wet from the tide or rain, they are shiny but then usually become dull when dry. When you’re shark tooth hunting, the sheen of a tooth stands out against the matte shells, which is when sunny and breezy conditions to dry the beach a bit make for good shark tooth hunting.
When it comes to the tide, low tide is the best for finding shark teeth in St Augustine, or most coastal areas. If you’re looking in creek beds inland or in the Everglades, the tide doesn’t matter as water levels more than a mile inland don’t lower too much at low tide, but for finding them on the beach it’s important. The lower the tide, the better. Up at the GTM beaches near Ponte Vedra, due to the concentration of teeth and slope of the sand, mid-tide is actually pretty good for shark tooth hunting as the tide washes over the coquina differently there.
Ultimately, just get to the beach and get your eyes practicing!
Common Shark Tooth Fossils Found in Florida
Most days I’m just excited to find shark teeth, but then sometimes I find really cool ones and like to research them. Of course finding megalodon teeth is incredible, but that more often happens inland in creek beds. On our beaches here in St Johns County, we have mostly common shark types to find teeth from. They’re still thousands of years old and are fossils, but they’re actually a lot of species of shark that are still around today.
- Mako Shark Teeth
- Characteristics: triangular shape, thin grooves on tooth
- tiny to 3/4″
- Great White Shark Teeth
- Characteristics: larger, serrated, and robust, good root
- they tend to be very clearly Great White when you find them. You’ll see…
- Tiger Shark Teeth
- Characteristics: more curved, less serrated, kind of like a comma or apostrophe
- Different from other shark teeth in how hard they jack back towards the root
- Sand Tiger Shark Teeth
- these have deep roots and long points, sometimes with barbs on the top of the root
- 1/4″ to 1″ long
- Bull Shark Teeth
- Characteristics: broad, blunt edges, clearly a strong biter
- Usually pretty small, less than 1/2″
- Other Notable Fossils to look for
- Hammerhead Shark Teeth
- similar to tiger sharks with the comma shape
- Rays and Skates Teeth
- these look more like black comb bristles or can be more flat and smooth without pointed tips.
- Hammerhead Shark Teeth
What do you do with shark teeth?
OMG. I’m bad. I just collect them and organize them, but some people get very creative. A lot of people use the shark teeth they find to make jewelry and art. Some people are really skilled and make shadowboxes or mosaics, but I don’t have that sort of patience. When I see shark tooth jewelry, it’s usually in the form of a necklace with a large tooth as the pendant or as earrings.
But here’s what I do: store them by size and shape in a small box. I like to give shark teeth to people who visit us if they haven’t found any of their own, and sometimes I’ll use them in art projects, but for the most part I just enjoy my collection.
Finding shark teeth in St Augustine is a fun adventure. I love teaching people how to do it and know you’ll enjoy when you find your own. If you have any questions about going shark tooth hunting or anything else around our beaches, please leave a comment or send us a note!
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