A deeper dive: Edgy Glum selling shark teeth for a cause

Edgy Glum was excited to go with his parents, Steve Glum and Gina Merianos, to Caspersen Beach, near Venice, Florida, this summer. The 9-year-old, who is passionate about the ocean and its creatures, was eager to collect shark teeth and sell them to people who don’t live near the beach.

He and his dad created a name for their venture, Sharktooth Edge, and they concocted a floating device to hold the teeth they found in the ocean. They also took a digger and a dredger to collect and sift out unwanted debris.

“Once the waves crash, sometimes the sand starts turning and it reveals (the teeth),” Edgy said.

Edgy estimates they found 200 in three days — diving and swimming for them in about three feet of water. He has learned the subtle differences in the teeth and has identified in his collection teeth from a great white, hammerhead, bull, lemon, tiger and sand shark.

The family’s second trip to the beach one week later ended up being an environmental lesson when the effects of red tide ruined the outing.

“When we first got there it was not that bad,” Edgy said. “We … had a runny nose, and the next day it was worse. … It had dead fish everywhere, all along the beaches. Dead minnows, dead tarpons; I even heard on the news that there was a whale shark dead.

“I was really heartbroken when I saw them dead,” he said. “I like the ocean, and I also like science. I’m almost like a scientist. I like to go to the beach — it’s beautiful, but this day it wasn’t.”

The harmful algal bloom worsened during the family’s stay, making it impossible for them to enjoy the beach.

“Edgy … loves the ocean,” his mother said. “He was so affected by what he saw and felt – the fish kill, the brownish red water, the air was hard to breathe.”

It also spurred Edgy to turn his simple tooth-selling business into a cause. He would sell his shark teeth for $5 apiece and donate the money to red-tide research. He and his family had recently visited the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, in Sarasota, so Edgy decided to donate the money he earned to the researchers there.

“I wanted to help because I wanted my beaches back,” he said. “I didn’t want any sea life to die. I want to save the ones that are alive.”

So far, Edgy has sold more than 50 of the fossilized teeth.

Mote Marine officials were so impressed with Edgy’s plan that they are helping support his efforts. His school, Thornebrooke Elementary, in Ocoee, recently held an open house, and Edgy was given permission to set up a table displaying his shark teeth, information about his campaign and materials from Mote.

“If I donate the money there for researcher-scientists there, they can figure out how to stop red tide,” Edgy said.

To buy a shark tooth for $5 or to make a donation, go to paypal.com/pools/c/87cHc9MG5Q.

“The kid has an amazing sense of justice and injustice,” his father said.

“Just because I’m a kid, it doesn’t mean it can stop me from doing anything,” Edgy said.