Rockhounding Florida's Beaches

Beachcombing serene stretches of Florida can reveal fascinating finds like fossilized shark teeth, sea glass, quartz, agate and even coral fragments.

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Rockhounding along these beaches combines the thrill of discovery with the soothing rhythm of the ocean. Each wave is a potential key to nature's hidden gems.

GHOST CRABS

The story of “ghost crabs” is unique. Locals along the line from Eau Gallie Causeway to Pineda, Florida, call these fossils stoned crabs, beach crabs and coquina crabs.

Because of the shape of these crab fossils with their claws folded in front of them as in life, it is believed that these crabs died in their burrows perhaps escaping a fall in temperature. They remained virtually intact and then mineralized along with the sand and shell rubble surrounding them.

The crabs are generally covered with a thick layer of heavily cemented sandy matrix. If the crab has been in the surf for quite some time, it can be highly abraded, worn and even slightly polished with some voids infilled with calcium grains, calcite crystals and cemented sand.

Along Florida’s coast, the sandy beaches are smooth and clear of debris during most of the year. Particularly after strong storms and hurricanes, these crabs wash up on shore and can be found. These crabs are believed to come from two sources of offshore coquina rock deposits to the east which appear to be the ancient shoreline before the retreat of the last Pleistocene Ice Age 10,000 years ago.

It’s also believed that during the construction of Port Canaveral, the dredging activities dislodged much of the Anastasia formation releasing some of these fossils. - Joseph “PaleoJoe” Kchodl

SHARK TEETH