The Hawthorn Group: Why Venice Has So Many Prehistoric Fossils
During the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (roughly 23 million to 2.6 million years ago), sea levels were significantly higher and much of the Florida peninsula lay beneath a nutrient-rich shallow sea. Prehistoric sharks—including bull, tiger, mako, snaggletooth, and Carcharocles megalodon—populated these coastal waters.
Because sharks continuously grow and shed rows of teeth throughout their lives, millions of teeth settled into the marine clay, sand, and phosphate sediments known to geologists as the Hawthorn Group. While most of Florida’s coastline is buried beneath thick layers of younger sand, the nearshore shelf off Venice and southern Sarasota County sits right where wave action and winter cold fronts erode those exposed fossil beds and push them onto the beach.
Where to Search: Caspersen Beach vs. Brohard Paw Park vs. Venice Pier
Three contiguous stretches of southern Venice coastline produce the highest concentration of fossilized shark teeth:
1. Caspersen Beach Park (4100 Harbor Drive South)
The southernmost park on Venice Island leaves over a mile of natural, unmanicured rocky shoreline intact. Walk south past the boardwalks toward the exposed Anastasia limestone coquina outcrops where wave eddies trap heavy shell gravel and black teeth.
2. Service Club Park & Venice Fishing Pier (1600 Harbor Drive South)
Located between the Venice Municipal Airport and Sharky’s on the Pier, the pilings and nearshore sandbars around the 700-foot concrete pier create natural troughs that collect shell beds after northwest wind events.
3. Venice Beach & Humphris Park (South Jetty)
At the end of West Venice Avenue and northward toward the South Jetty at Venice Inlet, tidal currents moving through the pass churn up coarse shell hash.
How to Spot a Fossil Tooth in the Surf
Skip the dry, powdery upper beach and walk directly to the wet step-off where receding waves drop coarse shell fragments. Fossilized teeth are denser than broken shells, so they settle at the bottom of the shell line. Train your eyes to look for a glossy, jet-black "V" or "T" shape—specifically the matte black root bar paired with a shiny, enamel-coated triangular blade.