Venice, Florida; Sharks Tooth Capital of the World
(Casey Key, Nokomis, the Inlet, Venice and Manasota Beach)
THE SHARKS TOOTH COAST
Have you ever wonder why there are sharks teeth scattered across the sands, in the parking lot and even in your own back yard if you live in Venice Florida? Could that be why the mission statement or keyword phrase in Venice, Florida is “Sharks Tooth Capital of the World?” Twenty-seven varieties of teeth are scattered across the sands and on the bottom under the water of our Venice beaches. Most of these teeth are that from two to three million years ago, give or take a few millenniums, with the largest coming from Megalodon; ancestry to the great white, only a wee bit larger. I at six foot three could stand up straight in the opening of an adult’s mouth. Did you notice the keyword phrase, ‘most of these teeth’ and not all of these prehistoric teeth? That is because many of those prehistoric creatures remains found fossilized, brown to black in color, are still very much not yet extinct and still caught out on the boards of our Venice City Pier and off the beaches. There are some seventeen species caught on a daily basis and occasionally a visitor such as the Spotted Tiger shark shows up for holiday too.
Just as our annual to semi-annual visitors, Snowbirds, show up from all over the world to visit Venice, Florida, so to do a number of fish species and many a shark too. On the Venice City Pier, our own Venice Pier Anglers and members of The Island Anglers convey out on the boards to catch fish first and as evening prevails, rigging for sharks becomes the game. The romantic notion of a moonlight swim might not be such a good idea because sharks actively feed from dusk until dawn. Some of these sharks are residents, while others are visitors following their favorite meals much as people follow different seasons for their change in pace. Our King Mackerel runs along the beaches usually coincide with the Tarpon migration and spawn, bring in sharks not seen as much during the fall and winter. Big hammerheads like King or Spanish mackerels and are avid lovers when it comes to stingrays, another visitor, and Tarpon. The Bull sharks arrival in the fall catch our tarpon and Kings on the way home and again as they are leaving, in the meeting of their favorite meals; poons and macks. Tigers and Mako along the beaches are oddities but still they do happen, just as a Great White was caught way back when the swordfish were caught frequently from our shorelines. Through overfishing and ‘kill’ techniques because of their trash quality of the day, we have but a few now and only stories to tell our kids or grand kids in my case. That is why we out here on the boards of the Venice Pier practice the mentality of “Positive Mentoring through Fishing” and use CPR on as many landings as possible; CPR means; Catch, photograph and Release. In addition, a select few of our Inshore Florida anglers participate in the on going shark tagging program sponsored and supported by NOAA. If you might be interested in becoming a member in our NOAA Shark Tagging program please Gary Anderson at inshoreflorida@gmail.com and I will respond to your query. Sharks are natural eating machines and as such really do live in the wild and not just in a zoo. Caution should always be exercised when swimming around, with or angling for such. In appreciation to those who make it possible, the writers to the photographers, we here at Venice Pier Anglers salute you and your treasures caught in time. Enjoy this new page of Geographical Shorts, an appreciation to National Geographic.
