Diving for Megalodon shark teeth is a different kind of treasure hunting
I first heard about diving in the Cooper River of South Carolina about 20 years ago. The dives are nearly zero visibility with a current. Basically night dives in the middle of the day with silt and particulate matter. And did I mention the currents? They are tidal so one dive you might get pushed one direction and then a few hours later, the other. The magic dive is at slack tide before it turns over.
The thing that makes diving there exciting, however, is the fossils on the river bed. Specifically Megalodon (Otodus megalodon) shark teeth that are at least 3 million years old.
My friend Rich Synowiec from Divers Incorporated in Ann Arbor, Michigan has been leading trips to the Cooper for 20 years. I finally saw he was taking a trip in time to plan to join his group.
We did six dives over two days from a 24-foot Carolina Skiff. The frustrating part of the diving for me was the encumbrances necessary. We had to carry lights, a collection bag and a surface marker buoy and reel, on top of the regular dive gear. The water was around 70 degrees so I wore a 3 mill wetsuit with a hood and was fine.
The key to the dive is to head straight to the bottom and search for gravel. It’s not worth your time to search through sand or mud. The challenge in these dives is keeping your mind calm and not letting the unknown creep in. You’re about 40 feet underwater, in darkness, being pushed backwards by the current. And then occasionally, you run into things. I found what was likely a window unit air conditioner, for instance. It would be easy to let discomfort rise to panic.
I only did five of the six dives and on three of them I didn’t find a thing.
One dive, I found two smaller teeth. But on one dive, I hit the motherlode of teeth and fossilized bone. I remember when my hand grazed across the big Megalodon tooth I found. I grabbed it and stuffed it into the game collection bag. I added more treasure to it, but kept the bag tightly against my chest because I didn’t want anything to fall out. It was like finding buried treasure and I could imagine the “gold fever” rising up in me.
According to Gemini AI, that tooth came from a 50-foot+ animal. It would dwarf the biggest great white sharks we see today. The belief is that they ate themselves into extinction. They grew too big and couldn’t find enough food to support themselves. The more agile white sharks could out hunt them.
From what I’ve read, the low country around South Carolina was a warm, shallow sea millions of years ago. But as Megalodons shed their teeth, they fell to the bottom, likely got buried in silt and fossilized.
Today, it is fairly common to find them. I’ve not done the dive, but I’ve been told there is a shark ledge off the coast as well where you can find fossils about 100 feet down in the ocean, too. It’s well off shore.
According to Google Gemini when it analyzed a photo of the tooth:
Estimating the size of a Megalodon based on a single tooth involves some math and a bit of scientific debate, but here is the breakdown based on the most common formulas used by paleontologists:
### The Estimated Size
For a tooth of that magnitude, the shark’s total body length would likely fall into these ranges:
* **Average Estimate:** **52 – 58 feet** (approx. 16–18 meters).
* **Upper Limit:** Some researchers suggest that teeth hitting the 8-inch mark could belong to individuals pushing **60+ feet** (18+ meters).
### Putting That Into Perspective
To help you visualize a **55-foot** predator:
* **The School Bus Test:** It would be longer than a standard school bus (typically 45 feet) with room to spare.
* **The Weight:** An animal this size would likely weigh between **50 and 70 tons** (that’s about 10 to 14 African elephants).
* **The Bite:** A shark of this scale could easily swallow a human whole—multiple times over—and had enough bite force to crush a small car.
### Why the range?
The exact size varies depending on where the tooth was located in the jaw. **Anterior teeth** (the big ones in the very front) give the most accurate “maximum” reading, while **lateral teeth** (further back) are naturally smaller even on a massive shark. Since yours is a large, broad tooth, it was likely near the front, confirming you’ve got a piece of a true apex titan!
Just the sheer idea, though, that I found a six inch tooth sitting on the bottom of a river in South Carolina is astounding. This seems like one more ocean mystery we don’t fully understand or appreciate.
And a shout out to Johnny Cercoperly at Cooper River Divers for taking care of everything!
Download a free short story from the Mike Scott thriller series. This story even includes tips on protecting sea turtles!
I’m keeping this Substack free for now, but if you’d like to support it anyway, buy me a cup of Kofi.
Check out this recent profile of my writing/diving career.
Visit my website BooksbyEric.com.
I also recommend you follow me on my Facebook Author Page, Instagram and Threads.
That is a amazing find. Bucket list dive
Cool, did you report these in your hobby license reports as is required?