Shark teeth are tricky finds along the Delaware Coast. I scooped this up one afternoon when I saw it floating along in gentle waves of the bay- made my day. So how can you tell the difference between different kinds of shark teeth? First it's important to know the species native to the area.
This tooth was clearly a sand tiger, due to its elongated needle-like shape and the bump-out hook shapes on the sides.
Sand tigers love to summer in the Delaware Bay, especially more-shallow waters right inside the mouth of the bay, I believe this may be their preferred spot due to its lower salinity, where the ocean meets the bay, although they're popular all along the Cape. They're Delawares largest shark species that comes to stay for a little. The bay serves as their migratory resting ground as they arrive from the south in late spring and early June. They hang out for the rest of the season until departing in Fall.
Their teeth are a sight too see when they're still intact- they have multiple rows of teeth on each side that point in different directions and are the suspected culprits of the only shark and human incidents that have taken place here.
