New Members Ptim Posted June 20 New Members Share Posted June 20 It appears to be a great white tooth. This was found on top of a borrow pit pile of dirt and shale, that was 40’-50’ tall, so basically it was buried, until it was dug up on a construction site, down in Lehigh Acres, FL, back in the middle 80’s, I'm curious as to the age of it. It measures 2.5" at an angle too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newbie_1971 Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 Looks like a GW to me! That's awesome, congrats! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fin Lover Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 (edited) Welcome to the forum and nice Great White tooth! The Miocene epoch is approximately 24 - 5 million years ago (mya), and Great Whites are late Miocene. The book I usually go by estimates 6 mya to present. Edited June 21 by Fin Lover Added book reference Fin Lover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark57 Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 This tooth is likely Pliocene or younger. Great whites are virtually unknown from the Miocene formations on the east coast, as this shark evolved in the latest Miocene in the Pacific. Great tooth by the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Nice great white! That area has alot of Tamiami formation fossil material... Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 4 hours ago, Ptim said: It appears to be a great white tooth. This was found on top of a borrow pit pile of dirt and shale, that was 40’-50’ tall, so basically it was buried, until it was dug up on a construction site, down in Lehigh Acres, FL, back in the middle 80’s, I'm curious as to the age of it. It measures 2.5" at an angle too. I have been hunting fossils in SW Florida for 15 years, even occasionally in Lehigh Acres.. and I am curious Also... The answer is complex and there are many things that are true that are not very helpful in figuring out how old is your specific tooth... Here is something to think about ... We used to have Beluga whales in SW Florida, but they have not been here for a couple of million years, yet they still exist off the coast for Alaska.. So what is the age of a specific shark tooth ? Depends on where it was found and when it lived/died in that locality. Take a look at this photo from wikipedia: m So a Hemipristis serra went extinct in Aurora NC about 13 mya. but it continued to exist in Florida 3 mya . Interesting.. So if your tooth was a Hemipristis from Florida 3-10 mya would be an accurate guess. What about Megalodons.....Once again Wikipedia So 23 to 3.6 mya.. I would guess that Hemipristis and Megalodon existed together 10-3.6 mya and Hemipristis went on another 600 thousand years and then also went extinct in SW Florida. But you asked about GWs.... another Wikipedia photo Recent means it exists today. We knew that... When did it originally show up in SW Florida ? May have been gradual but the Miocene ended 5.3 mya, so I guess 5 or 6 mya, it showed up in SW Florida... I have hunted long enough to have found locations in SW Florida, where I have only found Miocene fossils , other places where I have found Pliocene fossils > 90 % of the time. At the Pliocene location, I find Hemipristis frequently and Great Whites occasionally, but not a fragment of a Megalodon . I never (and you should never) give an AGE approximation of a Shark tooth in a specific location as a fact, I normally provide an educated "guess" of the introduction of GWs to SW Florida as 3 mya... and say any GW tooth could have been dropped any time in the last 3 mya.... 1 The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 8 minutes ago, shark57 said: This tooth is likely Pliocene or younger. Great whites are virtually unknown from the Miocene formations on the east coast, as this shark evolved in the latest Miocene in the Pacific. Great tooth by the way! I like your answer much better than my own... Concise and to the point. The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark57 Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 2 minutes ago, Shellseeker said: I like your answer much better than my own... Concise and to the point. Thanks. One correction on your Hemipristis going extinct in Aurora. It is/was quite common in the Yorktown Formation there (4.5 million years old). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 (edited) 11 hours ago, Fin Lover said: Welcome to the forum and nice Great White tooth! The Miocene epoch is approximately 24 - 5 million years ago (mya), and Great Whites are late Miocene. The book I usually go by estimates 6 mya to present. 7 hours ago, shark57 said: This tooth is likely Pliocene or younger. Great whites are virtually unknown from the Miocene formations on the east coast, as this shark evolved in the latest Miocene in the Pacific. Great tooth by the way! 7 hours ago, Shellseeker said: I have been hunting fossils in SW Florida for 15 years, even occasionally in Lehigh Acres.. and I am curious Also... The answer is complex and there are many things that are true that are not very helpful in figuring out how old is your specific tooth... Here is something to think about ... We used to have Beluga whales in SW Florida, but they have not been here for a couple of million years, yet they still exist off the coast for Alaska.. So what is the age of a specific shark tooth ? Depends on where it was found and when it lived/died in that locality. Take a look at this photo from wikipedia: m So a Hemipristis serra went extinct in Aurora NC about 13 mya. but it continued to exist in Florida 3 mya . Interesting.. So if your tooth was a Hemipristis from Florida 3-10 mya would be an accurate guess. What about Megalodons.....Once again Wikipedia So 23 to 3.6 mya.. I would guess that Hemipristis and Megalodon existed together 10-3.6 mya and Hemipristis went on another 600 thousand years and then also went extinct in SW Florida. But you asked about GWs.... another Wikipedia photo Recent means it exists today. We knew that... When did it originally show up in SW Florida ? May have been gradual but the Miocene ended 5.3 mya, so I guess 5 or 6 mya, it showed up in SW Florida... I have hunted long enough to have found locations in SW Florida, where I have only found Miocene fossils , other places where I have found Pliocene fossils > 90 % of the time. At the Pliocene location, I find Hemipristis frequently and Great Whites occasionally, but not a fragment of a Megalodon . I never (and you should never) give an AGE approximation of a Shark tooth in a specific location as a fact, I normally provide an educated "guess" of the introduction of GWs to SW Florida as 3 mya... and say any GW tooth could have been dropped any time in the last 3 mya.... It's possible that those using the Miocene start date could be referencing the appearance of C. hastalis, the "ancestoral great white" Just a thought Edited June 21 by hemipristis 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 7 hours ago, shark57 said: Thanks. One correction on your Hemipristis going extinct in Aurora. It is/was quite common in the Yorktown Formation there (4.5 million years old). Abundant, even 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fin Lover Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 5 hours ago, hemipristis said: It's possible that those using the Miocene start date could be referencing the appearance of C. hastalis, the "ancestoral great white" The local book a lot of people in Charleston use has 23 - 5.3 mya for hastalis and 6 mya - present for carcharias. Do you think that is too old for carcharias? Fin Lover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark57 Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 59 minutes ago, Fin Lover said: The local book a lot of people in Charleston use has 23 - 5.3 mya for hastalis and 6 mya - present for carcharias. Do you think that is too old for carcharias? The range of the transitional species C. hubbelli is approximately 8 to 5 million years ago. I think it would be possible to get carcharias slightly older than 5 million, but these would most likely not be as coarsely serrated as more recent great whites and would probably be better classified as hubbelli. The tooth in question here is strongly serrated and appears to be well past the hubbelli form. If we had some layers that could be dated to between 5 and 5.5 million years that produced fossil white shark teeth, we could see exactly what characteristics these teeth had. My feeling is that these sharks did not get over here from the Pacific until after the transition was complete. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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