These are the Megalodon shark teeth that I found diving today. These are all in very nice condition. The largest Megalodon tooth is 5 -1/2 inches. The mako tooth is over 3 inches long. It was a good day.

Eberlein will discuss and show prehistoric megalodon teeth and other fossils he has uncovered from the Medway River and other local waters. Megalodons are extinct prehistoric sharks from the Miocene epoch thousands of years ago.
“It’s a shark that was about 70 feet long, and they say that the megalodon shark was probably the size of a large whale today. So think of what a large whale is like, and imagine it’s a shark,” said Eberlein, who has been diving for a quarter of a century.

“I started diving 25 years ago in Erie, Pa., and we used to dive Lake Erie for ship wrecks. In 1999, I was hired by Gulfstream in the IT department and came down here thinking I would be diving in the ocean. Then I met a guy who was an engineer at Gulfstream who said he dove for shark teeth in the rivers. The first thing I thought was, ‘Sharks’ teeth in the rivers?’ And then I was thinking like the little tiny sharks’ teeth, but he brought one [a megalodon tooth] in and I thought, ‘I’d like to find one of those.’ Then I went out and got hooked on it.”

Fort Morris State Historic Site is about 21 miles south and east of Richmond Hill. Turn east on Islands Highway off Interstate 95 at exit 76, then use Fort Morris Road. The site’s address is 2559 Fort Morris Road.
Admission to the event costs between $3-$4.50.

With about ten minutes of air left I moved outside my normal search area.  I was in an area of deep sand where I would not find anything and I dropped into a small hole about five feet deeper than where I had been at.  Right at the bottom of the sand hill on the hard Miocene  bottom I found this giant Megalodon Tooth.  It was just laying there completely exposed in a spot I have dove many times.  I could see the entire tooth all at once.

The tip is chipped but it is still an amazing giant Megalodon tooth. It measures 6.43 inches long and weighs over 1 pound.  It would have easily hit 6-1/2″ if the tip were there.  Scientists estimate these teeth to be between 2-5 Million years old.

The rest of the fossils from that dive were really nice as well.  The nicest are the small lower Megalodon tooth and the benedini tooth in the third photo.  Nice benedini teeth are very rare and this was the nicest one I have found all year.  It was a really good day of diving!!!  -Bill E.

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Local man dives for megalodon shark teeth.

By Caitlyn Boza
Brian County News – 12/14/11

On a foggy winter morning in Midway, Bill Eberlein dons a thick neoprene wetsuit and an oxygen tank and slips into one of the murky waterways that snakes around Colonels Island.

He skims along the floor of the river and uses his hands to sift through the mud, hunting for a peculiar kind of sunken treasure: prehistoric shark teeth.

Until about 2 million years ago, a giant species of shark, now called megalodon, roamed the world’s oceans. It spanned more than 60 feet in length, weighed more than 50 tons and boasted five rows of sharply serrated teeth.

“Their teeth are fascinating,” said Eberlein. “They’re so large that people once thought they could only belong to dragons.”

The Erie, Pa., native and Rotary Club of Richmond Hill president has been diving for megalodon teeth and other prehistoric fossils in Georgia’s waters since 1999.

“I love the excitement of hunting for something and never knowing what I’m going to find,” he said. “It’s like an Easter egg hunt for grown-ups.”

But in lieu of Easter eggs, Eberlein has discovered megalodon teeth, mastodon teeth, mammoth teeth, whale vertebrae, crocodilian jaw fragments, mako shark teeth and broken tusks.

Under the watchful eye of boat Capt. Gene Ashley, Eberlein dives more than 300 times a year.  With near-zero visibility and strong currents, however, he stressed that fossil diving is not for the faint of heart.

“It can be very dangerous. The mud can mess with your equipment, and you never really know what’s down there swimming with you.”

But despite the risks, diving is Eberlein’s passion.

“It’s like my therapy,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about anything underwater, just focus and enjoy it.”

Several years ago, Eberlein came up with a way to pursue his passion full-time.

“I just dove and dove, and I collected all these teeth. I even bought a boat so I could dive some more, and one day I thought, ‘Wow. Wouldn’t it be cool if I could use the teeth to pay off my boat?’”

And from that idea sprang www.megateeth.com — Eberlein’s online store featuring teeth and fossils from creatures both past and present.

“It’s something that people really get into,” said Eberlein. “There’s just something about the idea of a fossil, something that’s so old it can show us what the world was once like.”

Although Eberlein’s business has enjoyed success, he said he often finds it difficult to part with his discoveries.

“The price for being able to dive more is having to sell what I find. But at the same time, it means that I get to interact with my hobby beyond diving. By selling the fossils, I get to talk about them, photograph them, meet incredible people who share my interests.”

Polished teeth, fossils and jewelry from Eberlein’s collection can be purchased at www.megateeth.com and at the Midway Gallery in Midway.