February 25, 2025, 8:36 am | Read time: 3 minutes
Anyone visiting the Dutch seaside resort of Cadzand-Bad is likely to spot the town’s landmark on the beach promenade — the sculpture of a giant shark’s tooth, which gives a small foretaste of the treasures that the beach has in store. With a little luck and patience, collectors can discover ancient fossils from times gone by.
Overview
Impressive Finds on Cadzand Beach
Cadzand is located in the municipality of Sluis near the Belgian border in the southwest of the Netherlands. The coastal town not only attracts visitors with its endless sandy beaches and the rough North Sea but also has a real highlight in store for explorers. The beaches of Cadzand-Bad regularly wash up various fossils, including some extremely impressive finds. On a walk along the coast, casual visitors can not only collect shells, algae, and stones but, with a little luck, also discover fossilized shark and ray teeth. But where do the fossilized remains of the sea giants come from?
What’s Behind the Fossilized Finds
Nowadays, the likelihood of encountering a shark off the Dutch North Sea coast is extremely low. However, several million years ago, numerous rays, dolphins, whales, and even sharks lived in the much warmer sea off Cadzand, which, according to the website Cadzand.org, was further south than it is today.
Enclosed in layers of sediment, the remains from the late Eocene period (56 to 34 million years ago) were gradually released over the years due to constant erosion and the currents of the North Sea. According to ruhr24, more than 40 different species of shark tooth have now been found around the Dutch town of Cadzand.
In addition to the beach at Cadzand-Bad, the Verdronken Zwarte Polier nature reserve, two kilometers to the north, is one of the most popular places to find fossils. According to Cadzand.org, smaller shark teeth and other millennia-old remains of rays and fish can be found here. You can search with the naked eye or with the help of a sieve. There is a high probability of finding some fossils washed ashore, especially after storms and at low tide. The fossils may, of course, be kept as long as the local rules are observed and protected areas are avoided.
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More Fossils Can Be Found on These Beaches
The Dutch beach is not the only region where fossil shark teeth can be found. In Florida, on the famous Venice Beach, you can also find numerous collectors of shark teeth every year. The place is even known as the “Shark Tooth Capital of the World,” reports visitflorida. Fossil shark teeth are also repeatedly washed up on the shore at Golden Beach in Australia.