Potomac River Tiny Treasures

  I actually started the day's hunt down at the Cliffs, but conditions were horrible and I wasn't finding much of anything, so I headed down to the Potomac in hopes of finally scoring a Paleocarcharodon tooth.  Conditions on the River were the best that I've seen in a long time.  The strong winds from the east had pushed the water out, and taken all the grass, algae, trash, and sand with it.  I haven't seen so much gravel on the beach in over a year.

  Unfortunately, the Paleos stayed hidden, but I still had one of my best Potomac trips ever.  I got several nice Otodus teeth, a sweet Cretalamna, several sand tigers around the 1-1/2 inch mark, and a near-perfect lateral Striatolamia.  Even better than these was the pristine Palaeohypotodus Rutoti tooth.  I probably have some of these already, but the river wears teeth down so quickly that it becomes impossible to tell exactly which species a tooth belongs to.  This tooth is as close to perfect as you can get down there.

  The real star of the day is a first for me: a decent Paraorthacodus Clarki tooth.  It does have some damage and wear, but finding one in any condition is a rare event.  This tooth will have a special place in my collection.