Join the search for shark fossils in the waters off the coast of Florida
Paul Reinckens swam slowly over the sandy bottom of the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico looking for triangular objects — not an easy task considering that this was his first dive and visibility was only a meter or so in the dark, cloudy water. But suddenly, there it was: a hard, brownish-gray object lying on the sand.
Overjoyed, Reinckens picked it up, stuck it in a bag and continued looking. A few minutes later, he found a similar object. "It's fun!" said the volunteer firefighter from New York, as he climbed back on board a dive boat.
What Reinckens and several other divers from captain Jamie Bostwick's boat found off Englewood Beach on Florida's Gulf Coast were full or partial teeth from prehistoric megalodon sharks, the largest fish ever to swim in the world's oceans.
Megalodons, which grew to 60 feet (18.3 meters) and up to 77 tons, roamed the ocean eating whales and dugongs — predecessors of the manatee — from 17 million years ago until they became extinct about 2 million years ago. Each had as many as 270 teeth up to 7 inches (17.8 centimeters) long, meaning that there are a lot of teeth for fossil hunters and collectors to find in the waters off Florida.
"There's a big addiction to hunting for megalodon sharks' teeth," Bostwick said. "Once you find a big one, you're hooked. When you find a tooth, you've got a piece of history."
Megalodon sharks' teeth were not the only finds that day. Paul Steffen found an ear bone and a tooth from an ancient whale, while Dave Flinchbaugh found a bone from the leg of a prehistoric horse.
The six-person group on board the dive boat, which is called the Aris-Ta-Kat, was hunting in the waters south of the city of Venice in Florida, which is renowned as the "Shark Tooth Capital of the World." Swimmers, snorkelers, scuba divers and beachcombers regularly find many different kinds of fossilized shark teeth there. But "megs" are king as they can fetch thousands of U.S. dollars, depending on their size and condition.
Joshua Frank, who serves on the board of the Fossil Club of Lee County in Florida, goes scuba diving in search of sharks' teeth every chance he gets. He posts videos of what he finds on YouTube. "I've liked collecting sharks' teeth since I was a kid," Frank said. "Finding out I could dive for them has given me endless fun on the weekends."
On his trip aboard the Aris-Ta-Kat, Frank uncovered three pieces of a tooth from an ancient mammoth and seven megalodon teeth. His fellow divers gathered around to admire them. Flinchbaugh, who became a certified diver at age 65, has been selling fossils to earn some extra money ever since he retired. "When I pass away, my kids can have a garage sale and they can earn some money from selling the fossils I have kept," he said. But the real draw of fossil diving, Flinchbaugh and others say, is not about money. It is about the hunt for the ancient remains in the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico
趕緊加入佛羅里達州外海尋找鯊魚化石的行列
保羅瑞克根斯在墨西哥灣沙質的海床上方緩緩游著，尋找三角形的東西。這是他生平第一次潛水，在黑暗混濁的海水中能見度只有一公尺左右，因此這並不是一件易事。但突然間，它出現了。他看到了沙上面有一枚灰褐色的硬物。
瑞克根斯喜出望外，把它撿起來放進一個包包裡，然後繼續找。幾分鐘後，他又找到類似的東西。這位來自紐約的義消一邊爬回送他到潛水地點的小船上，一邊說：「這很好玩哩！」
瑞克根斯和其他來自傑美博斯特維克船長船上的潛水伕，在佛羅里達州墨西哥灣沿岸的恩格爾伍特海灘中找到的是史前生物巨牙鯊的牙齒，有完整的，也有不完整的。巨牙鯊是在海洋中生存過最大型的魚類。
巨牙鯊身長可達六十呎（十八點三公尺），體重七十七噸。從一千七百萬年前到牠們約兩百萬年前絕種的這段時間裡，巨牙鯊稱霸海洋，以鯨魚和海牛的前身儒艮為食。每一尾巨牙鯊的牙齒多達兩百七十枚，這些牙齒可以長達七吋（十七點八公分）。換言之，佛羅里達州外海有足夠的牙齒供尋找和收集化石的人搜尋。
博斯特維克說：「很多人尋找巨牙鯊的牙齒找上了癮。只要你找到一枚大的，你就脫不了身了。找到一枚牙齒，就是找到歷史的一個片段。」
巨牙鯊的牙齒不是當天唯一的收穫。保羅史特芬找到了一條古鯨魚的耳骨和一枚牙齒，戴夫芬林許鮑夫則找到了一匹史前馬的一根腿骨。
這艘小船名為 Aris-Ta-Kat 號，船上的六人小組當時在佛羅里達州威尼斯市以南的海域進行搜尋。佛州的威尼斯市有「世界鯊牙之都」美譽，泳客、浮潛者、水肺式潛水伕，乃至於在沙灘撿東西的人經常都會在這個地方發現不同種類的鯊齒化石。但最寶貴的還是依大小與狀況之別，可以叫價到數千美元的「巨牙」。
佛羅里達州李郡化石會董事約書亞法蘭只要有機會，都會揹著水肺潛水去找鯊魚牙齒。他還把戰利品的影片上傳到 YouTube。他說：「我從小就喜歡收集鯊魚牙齒。我發現可以潛水找到它們之後，我每個週末都有無限的樂趣。」
在 Aris-Ta-Kat 號上，法蘭克公開他收藏的一枚古猛瑪象牙齒的三個碎片，以及七枚巨牙鯊牙齒。其他的潛水客圍起來讚賞不已。芬林許鮑夫到六十五歲才成為獲得認證的潛水伕，自從退休以後就透過販賣化石來賺點外快。他說：「我死後，我的兒女可以來一次車庫拍賣，把我收藏的化石賣掉賺點錢。」但他和其他人都說，潛水找化石的迷人之處並不是錢，而是在墨西哥灣美麗的海水中尋找古代遺物本身。
資料來源 http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=3573&pre=1&sub=23
留言列表
