Cookiecutter Shark Tooth

Taxonomy

Cookiecutter Shark

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Squaliformes
Family: Dalatiidae
Genus: Isistius
Species: Isistius triangulus
Author Citation T. N. Gill, 1865

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Cenozoic
Period: Neogene
Epoch: Pliocene

Stratigraphy

Hawthorn / Okeechobee Group
Okeechobee Formation / Peace River Formation

Provenance

Date Collected: 12/20/2014
Acquired by: Field Collection

Dimensions

Width: 3.5 mm
Height: 5.5 mm
Thickness: 0.5 mm

Location

"Cookiecutter Creek"
Sarasota County
Florida
United States

• cookiecutter
• creek
• florida
• isistius
• okeechobee formation
• peace river formation
• symphyseal

Comments

The stratigraphic information for this locality is questionable and so is specified vaguely. The environment is marine shell hash that may span late Miocene-Pleistocene. Dr. Richard C. Hulbert, Jr. from FLMNH had this to say about the locality:

 

There are two “formations” found near the surface in that area of the state.  One is the middle to late Miocene Peace River Formation.  The other “formation” possible is has been informally called the Okeechobee Formation by Tom Scott, and consists of the sandy shell beds formerly called the Caloosahatchee, Bermont, and Fort Thompson formations.  On the geologic map of Florida published by the state’s geological survey it is not designated a formal name and is instead listed as Pliocene/Pleistocene shelly unit.  Even if found in situ within the Plio/Pleistocene unit, such specimens could be reworked out of the Peace River Formation.  If you are finding them in modern creek alluvium, it will be difficult to be sure which is their original depositional unit.