Most teeth you'll find around Charleston come from five sharks: the giant megalodon, the dagger-like mako, the serrated tiger, the slender sand tiger, and the colorful hemipristis ('snaggletooth'). Identify your find by four things — size, serrations, root shape, and color. Here's the field guide, plus the ray plates and fossil bone people often mistake for teeth.
Half the fun of a Charleston shark tooth hunt is figuring out what you found. The good news: a handful of species account for almost everything that washes up here, and each has a tell. Use four clues together — size, serrations (the saw-like edge), root shape, and color — and you'll ID most teeth in seconds.
Megalodon — The Giant
- Size: 1 inch to 7+ inches; anything over 3 inches is a prize
- Shape: a broad triangle
- Serrations: fine, even serrations along both edges
- Root: thick and heavy, often with a darker chevron band (the 'bourlette') between crown and root
- Color: gray, tan, or black; most Charleston beach megs are small or partial
Mako — The Dagger
- Shape: narrow, curved, blade-like
- Serrations: none — smooth edges
- Root: deeply forked
- Size: up to about 2 inches. A smooth, glossy, slightly S-curved tooth is almost always a mako.
Tiger Shark — The Cockscomb
- Shape: sideways-curved with a deep notch on one side
- Serrations: heavily serrated — even the serrations have serrations
- Size: usually under an inch. The curved 'rooster comb' shape is unmistakable.
Sand Tiger — The Most Common Find
- Shape: slender and smooth with a tall, narrow crown
- Cusps: tiny side points at the base of the crown
- Serrations: none
- Size: small, often under three-quarters of an inch. Lots of small smooth teeth with little side points are sand tiger — the bread-and-butter of Lowcountry hunts.
Hemipristis ('Snaggletooth') — The Collector's Favorite
- Shape: hooked, with coarse serrations on the upper edge
- Color: often a striking orange, amber, or gray
- Size: up to about 1.5 inches. The bold serrations and warm color make these a prized find.
Not a Tooth? What Else You'll Find
- Ray dental plates — purple-gray, ridged 'pavement' used to crush shellfish
- Fossil bone and vertebrae — porous, often barrel-shaped
- Drum fish 'lucky stones' — smooth white ear bones
- Coral and petrified wood
How Old Are These Teeth?
Most Charleston-area shark teeth come from the Hawthorn Formation and surrounding deposits, roughly 5 to 25 million years old. Megalodon ruled these waters until about 3.6 million years ago. The dark color comes from minerals replacing the original material as the tooth fossilizes in the seabed over tens of thousands of years — which is why fresh white teeth from modern sharks are almost never found on the beach.
Still Not Sure? Bring It to the Captain
On our Morris Island trips the captain IDs finds all day — it's half the fun. Snap a photo of your tooth next to a coin for scale and we'll tell you what you've got.
Pricing, BYOB rules, weather policy, and departure details are all on our FAQ page — or call (843) 508-1600.
Frequently Asked
How can you tell a megalodon tooth from other shark teeth?
Size and the root. Megalodon teeth are broad triangles with fine, even serrations and a thick, heavy root, often with a darker chevron band (the bourlette) between crown and root. Anything over three inches is almost certainly a meg.
What's the most common shark tooth found in Charleston?
Sand tiger — slender, smooth, needle-like teeth with tiny side cusps. They make up the majority of finds on a typical Lowcountry hunt.
Why are fossil shark teeth black or gray?
The original material is slowly replaced by minerals from the surrounding sediment as the tooth fossilizes over tens of thousands of years, which darkens it. Bright-white teeth are modern and rarely survive on the beach.
What is a 'snaggletooth'?
The common name for Hemipristis, a shark whose hooked, coarsely serrated teeth often come out orange or amber — a favorite among Charleston collectors.
I found a flat, ridged purple plate — what is it?
A ray dental plate. Rays used these pavement-like plates to crush oysters and clams. They're a common and collectible Lowcountry fossil.
Local captain with LowCountry Coastal Excursions, running tours out of Shem Creek since 2017.