Megalodon Teeth Found In Patuxent River

(March 2016) … Megalodon, a predator that roamed and ruled the seas  70 million to 10 million years ago.  It’s name means big tooth or megatooth and it is an appropriate title.  The only remains that are ever found are the fossilized teeth of this giant shark.  Many of the facts, especially size, about this shark are still in dispute or discussion but some are widely accepted.    The exact lengths of these ancient sharks are still debated, but it is believed to be approximately 40 to 70 feet (12 to 21m) long.  That is around four times the size of a full grown great white shark.  

Over the years people have found fossilized teeth washed up on beaches and by scuba divers in Africa, North America, South America, India, Australia, Japan, and Europe.  Based on these finds it is believed the megalodon lived in warm water oceans.    So it is no surprise that recently some washed up after storm Jonas onto several North Carolina beaches.  However some folks in Maryland made an interesting find.  Keep in mind at one time long ago (70 million years) a large part of North America was an ocean, you can see that evidence in fossils in many mountains and cliffs.

Captain Simon Dean of the Solomons Island Heritage Tours & Patuxent River Seafood was out the other day in the Patuxent river, patent tonging for oysters.  The company also does  heritage tours to teach people about the estuaries and the waterman’s way of life and how these two roles are intertwined.  They mainly are Chesapeake Bay watermen hunting for oysters, but also catch rockfish (striped bass), soft crabs, and hard crabs to sell to the markets and restaurants.

 Last week was a normal day on the river, and at one point when they emptied the cage while patent tonging for oysters, they found something besides shellfish on the culling table.  There were three large megalodon teeth on the table and a large vertebrae, all fossils.  The vertebrae is either a dolphin or whale, the teeth are definitely megalodon.   Finding fossils is a popular past time along the Patuxent River. The Calvert Cliffs at the mouth of the Patuxent River are famous for fossils, especially fossilized shark teeth.

Hunting for them is difficult due to some of the surrounding land being private, but the state park there does have a nice beach that is popular for hunting fossils.  “ The Calvert Cliffs run for roughly 24 miles from near Chesapeake Beach to Drum Point on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland in Calvert County. These cliffs contain an amazing Miocene fauna. More than 600 species of fossil plants and animals have been found here.  in the early to middle Miocene, the Salisbury Embayment was a shallow sea. It is thought to have been used as a calving ground for many species of early dolphins and whales. Since there were so many marine mammals here, the largest of prehistoric sharks, the Megatooth sharks (including C. megalodon), spent a lot of time feeding here. “

The next day Captain Dean and the crew,  found another tooth in roughly the same area.  Not to be outdone by the boys Capt Rachel Dean went out with them the next day to do some diving for oysters and also hoped to find a megalodon tooth.   They tried the same area they found the first four teeth, but didn’t find any good oysters or teeth so they moved to an area five miles up river.  “After all we are there to harvest oysters not hunt for fossils.”  Capt. Rachel  went diving for oysters and when the patent tonging basket was checked sure enough there was a megalodon tooth in the basket with an oyster attached to it, a two for.  Captain Rachel … “This is not a normal find for us, we have been oystering for ten years and never found anything like this.  We did find a 17th century olive jar a few years ago and amazingly enough it was whole after it was pulled up from the bottom.  So far everyone on the boat has found one of these teeth except one crew member.  We have found five teeth in three days”   

The fact they moved five miles away and found another tooth the next day just goes to show how many fossils can be found in that area.  It also puts into perspective just how much of the area millions of years ago was actually a warm water ocean and not dry land.  These fossils are from the Calvert cliffs that are high above the river.  All tolled they found five megalodon teeth and one vertebrae.  One of the stranger finds they have on their Facebook page is a cellphone with an oyster growing on it, or was it making a call.  You just never know what you are going to find in the waters of the east coast, even when you aren’t looking.

Fish On!!
Rich King