72 replies to this topic

[jax]

Thanks John. When we were at SMU, i told Mike that it could be a half fish / half reptile, and I got a pretty good laugh . I guess I wont really know until I find a skull or more bones. Its fun to imagine what they "could" be from!

Thanks for all the input guys

[tracer]

well, my first inclination for definitive id's is to really find a true expert on precisely the thing that it probably is. i don't know much about the people at smu, and so far i've gleaned that they apparently are expert on mosasaurs. are they also the best experts on cretaceous fishes? if not, perhaps you could send your new and improved photos to whoever is, and see what they say...

the verts are interesting, in that they don't match the russellosaurus, but they also are fairly different from fish verts i've seen, to the point that i have to wonder if they might be important to someone doing research somewhere.

i mean, what if some near-sighted lizard took a gander at a foxy fish back when and said, "whoa! nice scales!"

ow! ow! ow! <limping out of the thread with an early-morning brain cramp>

[jax]

I sent a few emails back to Polcyn, and stated that Mike at Oceans of Ks thought they looked mosasaurish, and his comment:

" The look Mosasaurish in the pics, but under the scope you can see the flakey structure of a fish bone. "

I dont think they are much of the fish experts there. Mainly reptile. Someone sent me a contact for a fish expert, and I am going to email them the pics a little later.

To be continued....

[JohnJ]

Frank Menser, on 29 October 2009 - 11:21 AM, said:

Not to give an opinion as to what that is...I'm no expert. But had to point out what I was just reminded of on this forum (ID thread). Gars also have concave/convex verts as well.

IMG_5166.JPG IMG_5167.JPG

Frank may have provided you with your first clue to the ID. After doing some "gar fishing" on the interwebz, I found these fossil verts ID'd as gar and this recent gar vertebra. The recent one is a different view than you've posted, but it has a lot in common with the 1st one in the second row and the last one in the third row. How do they compare? Also, if you spend some time on the Oceans of Kansas website looking at the fish fossils, you can see the character of fossil fish bone.

[barefootgirl]

I actually was just looking at my gar vert that was still attached to the skull that I found last spring and they do share some similarities. I would definitely go back and start looking for some teeth of whatever that thing is for sure. I cant wait to find out what you have.

By the way did you make that pecan pie yet?

Edited by barefootgirl, 05 November 2009 - 07:00 PM.

[jax]

No pie yet, i have been too busy with work. Its going to be another 80hr week.... Im going to attempt it on saturday. I'll let you know how i do.

[tracer]

JohnJ, on 05 November 2009 - 06:09 PM, said:

Frank may have provided you with your first clue to the ID. After doing some "gar fishing" on the interwebz, I found these fossil verts ID'd as gar and this recent gar vertebra. The recent one is a different view than you've posted, but it has a lot in common with the 1st one in the second row and the last one in the third row. How do they compare? Also, if you spend some time on the Oceans of Kansas website looking at the fish fossils, you can see the character of fossil fish bone.

but shouldn't it have had one of those little paper bands around it if it came off a sea gar?

but seriously, all i can say is that, whatever they are, at least they're not like my stuff where i have to drill it out and pour crushed limestone and epoxy in just to get the stuff out of the holocene and keep it from mooing.

[Just Bob]

So Jax, did you ever figure out what the verts were?

[jax]

Nope, last I heard was that they looked Fishy And thats where it was left. I have them in a riker mount stored away for now. I havent had much time for ID'ing or hunting lately...

[jpc]

I also thought they were gar-like verts, then I looked at the Dallasaurus paper... them are some weird mosasaur verts. Glad this Polcyn feller is excited. Keep us posted.

[jpc]

oops, I missed three pages of posts and some serious plot-thickening before posting that last one. The better set of pix scream Garfish to me.

[Foshunter]

I agree with Lance's ID, Very nice find. The Pro's will be ringing your doorbell soon.--Tom

[Just Bob]

Please keep us informed when you do get a positive ID.