and baby makes 6!

Imagine the fish it belonged to

I was walking down the beach, looking for sand dollars, when my eye caught the unmistakable, triangular shape in the sand. I blinked, because, great God in Heaven, it couldn’t be. It was just too big. I have found other shark teeth, but they were tiny by comparison. No, this had to be a piece of charcoal or something…..

I reached down and picked it up, and when I felt the smooth, sharp object there was no denying that it was indeed a shark tooth A huge, heavy, black tooth.

When I brought it back to show everyone, Billy could not believe it. Impossible. But it was in his hands. No doubt it was a big shark.

Later that day we hit the local surf shops. In one, they had some shark tooth necklaces in a display case. They were new teeth, but none as big as the one I found. Bill called me over to a set of jaws, and it was easily 2 foot wide, but the teeth were smaller than the one we had.

One tooth on display was shiny white, and looked similiar to ours. It was labeled “Great White Shark”, and it was much smaller than ours as well.

Great White’s will frequent the Gulf from time to time. No doubt about this. But, this tooth was really large, and black. I could not recall a shark with black teeth from my icthyology days.

When we got home, I walked to our neighbor who is a marine biologist getting his PhD. When I held out my hand to show him what I had found he exclaimed “Where did you find that. That is marvelous” and he took it from my hand and weighed it with his own. “This is a fossil shark tooth” he said, “very heavy. It is probably a great white, but maybe even more ancient. I have looked for something like this for years and have not found one. What a lucky find!!”

I got online and found this. Mine sure looks like the black one pictured.

So, in all probability it is a Great White, 3MYA.

Holy cow.

By far, the coolest thing I have ever found at the beach.

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BTW, last week I wrote a post for Chris at her Ordering Disorder website. Are you following her recipes and tips there? They are mawvelous. Easy to follow and a breeze to cook. I have a really tough time committing myself to recipes that are time consuming, so the ones she posts are yummy, simple and just right for a busy mom.

Go check out her site, and try Harvest Beef Stew. Mmmmmmmmm!! I make it at least once a week and there are no leftovers!