PERFECT GIFTS FOR BEACH TREASURE COLLECTORS
Welcome to the MoonShark Treasure Map!
Whether you're chasing Megalodon teeth in the shallows of Venice Beach or combing the shoreline for fossilized shells along the Chesapeake, the best finds always start with knowing where to look.
The MoonShark Treasure Map is your guide to the greatest fossil hunting, shark tooth collecting, and seashell beachcombing locations across the United States.
Each pin marks a tried-and-true destination, complete with what you're likely to find, what to bring, and what makes each spot special. New locations are added regularly, so bookmark this page and check back often. Now grab your sifter and get out there!
Florida Fossil, Shark Tooth, and Seashell Locations
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Venice Beach, FL- known as the "Shark Tooth Capital of the World"- sits atop ancient fossil beds that continuously wash prehistoric shark teeth onto its shores, making it a top pilgrimage spot for fossil hunters and shell/tooth collectors alike.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Blind Pass Beach, at the southern tip of Manasota Key where the pass cuts through to Palm Island, is a quieter, less-crowded alternative to Venice Beach where shifting sands and tidal action consistently deposit shark teeth and fossilized shells, making it one of Southwest Florida's better spots for fossil hunting away from the crowds.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
The Peace River, winding from Central Florida down to Charlotte Harbor, is one of Florida's most reliable spots for finding shark teeth- sift the exposed sandbars during low water and you're almost guaranteed a find, while its Pleistocene-era gravel layers also yield rich Ice Age deposits, making it one of the richest fossil-hunting locations in the world for everything from Megalodon teeth to mammoth and giant ground sloth remains.
FOR FINDING SEASHELLS
The Ten Thousand Islands, a boat-only maze of uninhabited barrier islands and mangroves south of Marco Island, offer some of Southwest Florida's most untouched shelling grounds- remote sandbars rarely visited by beachcombers yield full shell lines of whelks, conchs, olives, and the rare, coveted Junonia.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
The northern tip of Amelia Island at Fort Clinch State Park is a shark tooth hunter's dream, where periodic dredging of the St. Marys River shipping channel pumps fresh, unsearched sand full of fossilized teeth onto the beach near the fort's jetties, yielding species ranging from sand tiger and bull shark to the occasional megalodon.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Mickler's Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach is a well-known but somewhat secluded spot on Florida's "Shark Tooth Coast" where fossilized teeth wash out of the beach's distinctive pink coquina sand, yielding mostly smaller finds- stingray teeth, vertebrae, and shark teeth of various species- rather than the large megalodon specimens found on Gulf Coast beaches like Venice.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Juno Beach in Palm Beach County is a near-guaranteed shark tooth hunting spot- regulars say you can pretty much guarantee finding at least one tooth per hour of searching, with recent dredging and beach renourishment in the county unearthing even more, alongside common finds from bull, lemon, and tiger sharks.
FOR FINDING SEASHELLS
Bowman's Beach on Sanibel Island is a deliberately undeveloped, 50-acre stretch of shoreline whose untamed quality makes it one of the most consistent shell producers on the island, thanks to Sanibel's hook-shaped, east-west orientation that funnels shells washing in from the Gulf- making it one of the best low-tide shelling spots for hunting conchs, whelks, and other prized finds.
FOR FINDING SEASHELLS
Captiva Island (a separate barrier island just north of Sanibel, connected by a bridge over Blind Pass) is globally nicknamed "Shell Island," where hundreds of varieties wait to be found, from the rare junonia and conch to lightning whelk, tulip, kitten paw, lettered olive, and sand dollar- and being a narrow strip running north to south, it offers endless beach space and a quieter shelling experience than its busier neighbor Sanibel.
South Carolina Fossil & Shark Tooth Locations
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Folly Beach and neighboring Morris Island (a boat-only barrier island just offshore) sit above eroding Miocene to Pleistocene phosphatic and marine units where local rivers and offshore currents continuously deliver fossil shark teeth, whale bone, and the occasional megalodon, making the stretch south of the pier and Morris Island itself two of the most productive- and easiest, no-permit-required- fossil hunting spots on the Atlantic coast.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Edisto Beach, sitting at the mouth of the Edisto River where upstream fossils and offshore Ice Age deposits collect, is one of the Carolinas' most reliable spots for shark tooth hunting- search the shoreline at the South Edisto Inlet and along the groins lining each block- and is considered, alongside Folly Beach, one of the two most likely Atlantic beaches for finding a megalodon tooth.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Myrtle Beach's Grand Strand- stretching roughly from 10th Avenue South to 50th Avenue North- is one of South Carolina's reliable shark tooth hunting stretches, where currents and periodic beach re-nourishment continually turn up fossilized teeth from bull, sand tiger, and other sharks amid the shell line at low tide.
North Carolina Fossil & Shark Tooth Locations
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Topsail Island (including Topsail Beach), North Carolina, is a well-known 26-mile barrier island fossil-hunting spot where erosion of the offshore sedimentary shelf continually frees Miocene and Pliocene-era shark teeth, with the area near New River Inlet especially productive for finds, including occasional megalodon teeth washed ashore after storms.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Holden Beach, a waterfront town in Brunswick County, is considered one of North Carolina's top spots for finding shark teeth on shore, with the east end offering sandbars and tide pools to search during low tide, and a beach nourishment project that pulled sand from a Cretaceous-era pocket, meaning the shoreline now holds an unusually wide variety of fossilized shark tooth types.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Shark Tooth Island, located in the middle of the Cape Fear River and accessible only by kayak or with a local guide, is easily reached from Wilmington Beach and the surrounding area and lives up to its name as a near-guaranteed spot for finding fossilized shark teeth.
Virginia Fossil & Shark Tooth Locations
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
The beaches along Colonial Parkway's stretch of the York River sit atop ancient Miocene-era sediment layers that erode continuously, yielding fossilized shells and occasional shark teeth alongside the chance of arrowheads and other artifacts from the area's long history of Native American habitation- though collecting rules vary by specific site, so it's worth verifying what's permitted along Parkway-accessible shoreline versus nearby York River State Park.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Chippokes State Park in Surry, Virginia offers a sandy James River shoreline sitting atop Miocene and Pliocene-era sediment where visitors can dig with a plastic shovel and sieve for fossils like shark teeth, barnacles, and coral, ranging from 2 to 16 million years old, and it's considered one of the best and most popular fossil-hunting spots in Virginia, with occasional megalodon teeth and whale bones among the finds.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Westmoreland State Park in Montross, Virginia is home to "Fossil Beach," where the Potomac River continually erodes the Miocene-era Horsehead Cliffs to reveal fossilized shark teeth up to roughly 15-30 million years old- along with the occasional whale bone- and where legend holds that a lucky visitor turns up a megalodon tooth every couple of years.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Shark Tooth Island (also called Hollis Island), a privately owned sandbar in the Potomac River just north of Montross, acts as a natural funnel for Miocene-era fossils eroding out of the cliffs upriver at Westmoreland State Park, making it accessible only by boat or kayak (with a paid permit) but famously easy pickings for shark and porpoise teeth from species like tiger, hammerhead, and sand sharks.
Maryland Fossil & Shark Tooth Locations
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Calvert Cliffs in Lusby, Maryland is the quintessential shark tooth hunting destination in Maryland, where constant weathering of the park's cliffs exposes fossilized remains, letting beachcombers sift the sand for teeth from tiger, hammerhead, and sand sharks- and even the occasional megalodon.
FOR FINDING SHARK TEETH & FOSSILS
Purse State Park (now the Purse Area of Nanjemoy Wildlife Management Area) on the Potomac River in Charles County is considered the most accessible public site in the U.S. for collecting Paleocene-era shark teeth- roughly 60 million years old, twice as old as Calvert Cliffs' finds- where the Aquia Formation weathers out small teeth (including the megalodon ancestor Otodus obliquus) and occasional crocodile teeth along its remote, gravel-covered shoreline.
