Shark Week Cartoon by Jessie Lu

A shark tooth is one of the numerous teeth of a shark. Sharks continually shed their teeth, and some Carcharhiniformes shed approximately 35,000 teeth in a lifetime. In some geological formations, shark’s teeth are a common fossil. These fossils can be analyzed for information on shark evolution and biology, especially because the teeth are often the only part of the shark to be fossilized, in fact fossil teeth comprise much of the fossil record of the Elasmobranchii, extending back hundreds of millions of years.

More about fossilized shark teeth – the color of the teeth will depend upon the materials in which the original teeth were buried. I have seen pictures of teeth fossils ranging in color from that of very light sand, to brown or gray, to pitch black. In Myrtle Beach, the teeth that turn up are largely pitch black. In fact, when wet, they generally have a shine to them, almost like wet black spray paint. For the Myrtle Beach area, color may be the most important factor to target.

Scary Sharks? In fact, 80% of sharks are totally harmless, being less than a meter in length and eating only small fishes, crustaceans and invertebrates. Out of all the species of sharks, only a few types that are known to have attacked and killed man. These species include, the most famous of all – The Great White Shark; The Tiger Shark, with distinct tiger stripes down its side; The Bull Shark, which is one of only two sharks that can swim up river.

On occasion Great Hammerheads, Oceanic white tips, and Short fin Mako’s (the fastest of all the sharks) have attacked human, but these attacks are rare.

The Bull Shark has the infamous title of being the most aggressive of all sharks, possibly for its ability to swim in fresh water, where it is more likely to come into contact with humans.

A shark will only attack if threatened or hungry. Humans are not on the menu unless we are mistaken for their natural food, especially in murky water or on the surface where the shark can only see shadows. Sharks generally bump or poke their prey with their fins or snout before an all out attack.