Diver finds mastodon tusk off Florida coast, he says

st. Petersburg, Fla. – At first, fossil-hunting diver Alex Lundberg thought the long object on the sea floor off Florida’s Gulf Coast was a piece of wood. It turned out to be something much rarer, Lundberg said: a large piece of tusk from a long extinct mastodon.

Lundberg and his diving companion had previously found fossils in the same place, including mammoth teeth, bones from an ancient jaguar and parts of a dire wolf. They also found small pieces of mastodon tusk, but nothing this large and intact.

“We kind of knew there might be one in the area,” Lundberg said in an interview, noting that as he moved sand away from the prey he found in April, “it got bigger and bigger. I’m like, that’s a big catch.”

The tusk measures about 4 feet and weighs 70 pounds, Lundberg said, and was found at a depth of about 25 feet near Venice, Florida. It currently sits in a glass case in his living room, but the story may not end there.

Mastodons are related to modern-day mammoths and elephants. Scientists say they lived mainly in what is now North America, appearing as early as 23 million years ago. They went extinct about 10,000 years ago, along with dozens of other large mammals that disappeared when Earth’s climate was changing rapidly — and Stone Age humans were on the hunt.

Mastodon remains are frequently found across the continent, with Indiana Lawmakers Vote a few years ago to designate the mastodon as its official state fossil. Mastodons are on display at La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, one of the world’s most important sites for fossils from bygone eras.

The age of the prey found by Lundberg has not yet been determined.

Under Florida law, vertebrate fossils found on state lands, which include nearshore waters, belong to the state under the authority of the Florida Museum of Natural History. Lundberg has a license to collect these fossils and must report the tusk discovery to the museum when his license is renewed in December. He has had this license since 2019, according to the museum.

“The museum will analyze the finds and locations to determine their significance and the permit holder may keep the fossils if the museum does not request them within 60 days of the report,” said Rachel Narducci, collections manager for the Division of Paleontology at Museum vertebrates. “This could be a significant discovery depending on exactly where it was collected.”

Lundberg, who graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in marine biology and now works at a major cancer center in Tampa, is optimistic that he will be able to keep the prey.

“You don’t know where it came from. It’s been rolling around in the ocean for millions of years. It’s another cool piece,” he said.