"There are fewer shark teeth because we put 200 feet of sand where there was none before," then-Mayor Dean Calamaras told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in March 2005. "You still find them on the beach. You just don't find them in such high numbers."
He said it as Venice was getting ready for its second beach renourishment. The fourth one wrapped up this fall, and Calamaras's point holds for this winter too. The beach is wider and better protected. The fossils that made Venice the "Shark Tooth Capital of the World" are still in the sand, but most of them are now buried deeper. The best hunting this season is at the edges of the project, both the southern end and the waterline, plus offshore.
A New Layer Over the Old Hunting Grounds
On Oct. 2, local, state and federal officials held the traditional sand-toss ribbon cutting and declared the project complete, as reported by the Venice Gondolier at YourSun. Weeks Marine, working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District, placed about 620,000 cubic yards of sand along 3.2 miles of shoreline. The fill runs from just south of the Venice Inlet to just south of the Venice Fishing Pier.
The new sand came from a long way out. With no inlet nearby that needed dredging, crews took a hopper dredge about 11 miles into the Gulf off Englewood and pumped the material ashore. The crews also extended five stormwater outfalls. Mote Marine Laboratory reported to SNN that 524 sea turtle nests were relocated during the work.
Venice has renourished its beach in 1995, 2005, 2015 and now 2026. Each round adds width, and each round puts the fossil beds a little farther under the surface.
What the Last Fills Did to the Teeth
The 2005 Herald-Tribune story explains the geology. A beach renourishment consultant told the paper that Venice formed in calmer water than the barrier islands of Siesta Key or Casey Key. That calm let fossils like shark teeth settle into the sediment, and those teeth lay 15 to 20 feet below the sand. The paper followed a visiting family who found 20 teeth in two hours, and a veteran local hunter estimated that the same effort would have turned up four times as many before the first fill. He added that the 1990s fill sand did carry some teeth, "but nothing particularly great."
Visit Venice gives a range of 18 to 35 feet for the fossil layer under the coast and describes how teeth come up anyway: "With storms and waves, the fossils are slowly driven into the shallow waters and then up onto the beach." That slow upward movement is what this winter's hunting depends on. The new sand is a thick blanket, and the Gulf is working on it from the water side.
Caspersen Sits Just Past the Fill Line
In the 2005 story, the Army Corps project manager pointed hunters to Caspersen Beach, which lay outside the city project. The 2026 fill ends just south of the Fishing Pier, so Caspersen is again the stretch the new sand did not cover. Visit Venice says collectors have long favored any beach south of the Venice Jetty at Humphris Park, with the pier at Brohard Park "right in the heart of shark's tooth country."
Getting to Caspersen this season takes some planning. Sarasota County's park listing says the Harbor Drive access washed out in the 2024 storm season. Vehicle parking, restrooms and the playground remain closed pending repairs, and the park at 4100 Harbor Drive S. is open on foot or by bicycle only. Visit Sarasota County's Aug. 3 recovery update gives the same status.
| Access point | Relation to the 2026 fill | How to get there now |
|---|---|---|
| Venice Beach, near the pavilion | Inside the new sand | Public beach, run by Sarasota County |
| Venice Fishing Pier and Brohard Park | At the south end of the fill | Run by Sarasota County; Papa's Bait Shop is on the pier |
| Brohard Paw Park | South of the pier | Listed open daily, 7 a.m. to dusk; the county's only dog-allowed beach |
| Caspersen Beach | South of the fill | Walk or bike in from South Brohard Park or the Venetian Waterway Park Trail at the City Festival Grounds |
Who runs which beach changed slightly this fall. A new city-county parks agreement took effect Oct. 1. The City of Venice's announcement says Sarasota County continues to operate Brohard Park, Venice Beach, Marina Park and Pinebrook Park. Legacy Park, Hecksher Park and Venetian Waterway Park's west side, among others, return to city management. Contractor closeout work this fall, including sand tilling near Brohard Paw Park, has been posted on the city's renourishment project page. Check there and on the county's park listings before you head south with a sifter or a dog.
Where the Gear and Guides Are
If the teeth near the pier are buried deeper, the waterline matters more. Visit Venice describes the faster method: walk to where the waves break and the foot-high drop-off ledge forms, scoop sand and shells from the edge or a few feet out, then sort through the pile on dry sand. Most teeth run from 1/8 inch to 3/4 inch, and "at least one or more teeth will be found in most large scoops."
The standard tool for this is the "Venice Snow Shovel," a screened basket on a long handle. You can rent or buy one at Papa's Bait Shop on the 740-foot Venice Fishing Pier, and downtown specialty shops carry them too. Downtown, Shark Frenzy at 262 Tamiami Trail S and Fossil Frenzy at 272 Miami Ave W have both stocked Shark Tooth Sifter products alongside fossils and specimens, and Shark Frenzy offers advice on where to hunt.
For hosting visitors over the holidays, Venice Suncoast Tours runs a 3.5-hour "Sharks Teeth & More Family Adventure." It starts at South Brohard Park Beach and includes equipment, lunch and the option to turn finds into keepsakes.
Below the Sand Entirely
The renourishment covered the beach. It did not cover the seafloor a few miles out, where Visit Venice says the large teeth usually turn up and diving gear is required. Several operators run that trip:
- Fossil Junkies advertises daily three-tank Venice fossil dives at $225 per person and lists 301 E Venice Ave as its meet-up location.
- Keys Huka Dive runs roughly four-hour shark-tooth and Megalodon trips by scuba, Huka or snorkel.
- Top 2 Bottom Charters offers Venice shark-tooth, Megalodon and fossil-diving charters and supplies tanks, weights, fossil bags and refreshments.
Of the three, the Huka option is the most practical for a resident who is comfortable in the water but not scuba-certified.
What You Can Keep, and When to Go
According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, the state fossil-permit rules do not cover fossil shark and ray teeth, so collecting them on state land requires no permit. Collecting is prohibited in state parks, national wildlife refuges, national parks and national forests, and county and municipal land can have its own rules. The museum's legal information page adds that other vertebrate fossils are protected. This is general information, not legal advice. Check with the agency that manages any beach before you keep something other than a tooth.
Sarasota County notes that the nature center at Shamrock Park is a place to learn about shark teeth and fossils before a walk to the beach. Just up the coast, YourSun reported that the Nokomis Institute's free Nokomis Beach Talks series, which hosted a shark-tooth hunting presentation last April, is scheduled to return in January 2027. We covered how Nokomis organizes its evenings this season in our recent Nokomis post.
The town's big fossil weekend falls on the other side of winter. Visit Venice lists the Venice Sharks Tooth Festival for Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11, 2027, at Centennial Park downtown. By then the new sand will have had a full winter of Gulf weather on it, which is the slow process Visit Venice credits with bringing teeth to the surface.
For more on how beach life differs from the island to the mainland, see our Venice Island versus mainland Venice guide and the Venice neighborhood page.
If you're thinking about a home within walking distance of the sand south of the Venice Jetty, the team at Endless Summer Living can walk that stretch with you, from the pier at Brohard to the trail into Caspersen. Request a Concierge Consultation.
