Belgrade October 2015
Walking through the washed out area, a large triangular shape jumped into my sight. Picking it up, I was holding the largest tooth I had ever found at this quarry, a 3 ½ inch megalodon. All serrations present, full root with a feeding damaged tip. Barely a foot away I spotted something else partially buried. Unearthing it, I realized it was the largest whale vertebrae I had ever seen from here. These were just two of the many great finds during our club trip to Belgrade on October 9th. It was a beautiful day for collecting and in all, everyone left happy. New friendships formed and old ones rekindled. The trip was attended by 16 current club members and most everyone found something nice. David Sanderson left with a rare Maretia caolinensis; a spatangoid echinoid that has been found in huge numbers on Topsail Beach recently, but a rare find for the quarry. Other echinoids found were a few Echinocyamus wilsoni and Psammechinus carolinensis. Cindi Wyatt found a large spectacular Turritella fuerta , a very nice Carcharocles angustidens and a sawfish vert. Almost everyone found a Carcharocles angustidens tooth. Wayne Schutts found a beautiful mako tooth, probably Isurus hastalis. Mary Harbison found some nice Anoxypristis (sawfish) rostral teeth.There were many hemipristis and sand tigers found. One lucky member went home with a Galeocerdo casei, a rare Oligocene Tiger Shark found only in the Belgrade Formation. Croc teeth, shark verts and a variety of bivalves and gastropods filled out the collecting pouches. There was also a father and son visiting the quarry from Virginia that found a very nice mammal molar and an exquisite Nebrius sp. Tooth. Though not club members, we all reveled in their finds. Many thanks to the employees at the Belgrade quarry, especially Milton who sets the trips up for us and Ricky who oversees the event. Over the years they have bent over backwards to accommodate us and make sure access is there for the club. So the next time you are on a trip there, take the time to personally tell them thank you. Don Rideout