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Anyone know the species of this fish? Skull is 3D and BIG. Thanks

An afternoon of sorting through some more micro material has turned up what I suspect is some bird material but with my luck still could be fish. The preservation is correct for bird and the specimen appears to be hollow on the broken end and infilled with crystal. I cannot as yet find any photos of a similar bone in the cretaceous bird material on the net but early days. The specimen is fairly flat so is hard to be sure with the USB microscope. the specimen is 9 mm at the longest point and about 2 mm thick. Thanks in advance for all observations and comments Mike D'Arcy

Been a very long time ive been this excited about a fossil hunting trip! This upcomming trip has been 18 months in the making. Going to find lots of ammonites, but thats not the exciting part for me. I should find some rather rare fossils that ive been after for quite some years!! All private property. Cant freakin wait! Gunna be losing some sleep tonight!!! Oh the mystery. Im not gunna say anything about what im after, but i will post a trip report once I get back. Believe you me my fingers are crossed!!! I should be making a trip report by the 1st of June? Oh the mystery!!! RB

While sieving micro material from my favourite spot I came across this small specimen. It is 3.5 mm at the longest side so not very big. There is a distinct shine on one side so a first I tended to think tooth but I am unsure. Part of me wants to think it is a tooth from some type of parrot fish. The more logical part of me tends to think it is a fish scale of some type with the end broken off. Due to size I can not tell if the end is broken or complete except for a little wear. At the moment I am open to opinions as to what the micro fossil is With the photo I will go with fish scale? Mike D'Arcy

Recently went fossil hunting for the first time in Sherman, TX at post oak creek. I found loads of shark teeth, but this one though small caught my eye. Doesn't have a root, perhaps it is just a tip; but the general shape is different from all the shark teeth I found. So maybe it is something else (hopefully not just a rock) It is pretty small. Attaching a couple of pictures on from top view, side.

The misses and I went to Colorado to visit family. The day after we got home, I noticed some rocks sittin by my small garage. Ammo rocks! Ha! I dont even have to go fossil hunting any more. They just majically appear!!! HA!!! I must be doing something right? RB

Hey all, I have had this piece for a while and never figured out what it is. It is broken at the tip (or what I imagine the "tip" is). I tried to include decent pictures, but it is difficult because of the shape of the piece. One side has a concave like indentation (first image). The second image is a "side" view, and the 3 image is looking down the piece from the "bottom". I didn't include a picture from the top because it is broken and I am not sure how much can be gleaned from that view. This was found in a cretaceous area in north Mississippi. Any and all help is appreciated! Caleb

The Mark of the Mosasaur: A 90-million-year-old bite mark raises questions about what seagoing lizards really ate By Brian Switek on April 27, 2017 https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/the-mark-of-the-mosasaur/ Gale, A., Kennedy, W., Martill, D. 2017. Mosasauroid predation on an ammonite – Pseudaspidoceras – from the Early Turonian of south-eastern Morocco. Acta Geologica Polonica. doi: 10.1515/agp-2017-0003 https://geojournals.pgi.gov.pl/agp/article/view/25689 Some other papers: Kauffman, E.G. and Kesling, R.V., 1960. An Upper Cretaceous ammonite bitten by a mosasaur. Contrib.Mus. Paleontol.Univ. Mich. 15:193-248 https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/48337/ID178.pdf;sequence=2 Kase, T., Johnston, P.A., Seilacher, A. and Boyce, J.B., 1998. Alleged mosasaur bite marks on Late Cretaceous ammonites are limpet (patellogastropod) home scars. Geology, 26(10), pp.947-950. http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/26/10/947.short Tsujita, C.J. and Westermann, G.E., 2001. Were limpets or mosasaurs responsible for the perforations in the ammonite Placenticeras?. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 169(3), pp.245-270. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018201002206 Klompmaker, A.A., Waljaard, N.A. and Fraaije, R.H., 2009. Ventral bite marks in Mesozoic ammonoids. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 280(1), pp.245-257. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018209002296 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adiel_Klompmaker/publication/229134933_Ventral_bite_marks_in_Mesozoic_ammonoids/links/0deec51cff63b6dcba000000.pdf Hewitt, R.A. and Westermann, G.E.G., 1990. Mosasaur tooth marks on the ammonite Placenticeras from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 27(3), pp.469-472. http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/e90-042#.WRPHjlKZMk5 Yours, Paul H.

Opinion: NJ’s ‘marl’ pits yield dinosaur wonders Michele S. Byers, Daily Record, April 29, 2017 http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/opinion/letters/2017/04/29/new-jersey-fossils-dinosaurs-marl/101025078/ Yours, Paul H.

Greetings! I mentioned in another topic, that I will post some of my heteromorph findings and prepwork. The locality is in Hungary, and is an abandoned quarry that produced cement for the local factory. It is rich in fossils, but it was a big underwater slope, and because of this the fossils only found in shallow beds, between redeposited layers of "nothing" and always in condensed form, and the bigger pieces fossilized mainly in fragments. Another problem is, that the compressed marls contains only stone molds, sometimes with slick&slides on them, and the matrix and fossil is hard to distinguish There are some pieces that have the imprints of spines. Here is one that is a big question for me, because the spine is visible, (at least at 1 section that broke out with some luck) but it is only a thin imprint in the stone, and I really like to have some opinions, what to do with it... I began prepping, but if i only touch the stone with the vibrotool, I see nothing what I do onward, because the fine dust completely obscure the spine, so I could work as I imagine they should be, and I fear that I will destroy it (and the further ones) completely, and I am uncertain to try to fake them from the matrix (But it is already nearly the same) so this is one option. Another problem is that I need to remove a lot of matrix, and I have bitter expectations what will happen with the underlying spines... So there is a second option to do nothing with it, but I like more to have a good prepared spiny Crioceratites in my collection, so I will try anyway The first spine from the living chamber is currently "faked" because I do not found the spine imprint yet. The second spine is original (as the stone broke off of it) (the other fossil is an Orbitolina, but I am not shure) The sandy marls are soft and the stone molds that have a thin calcite shells are sometimes found in calcite concretions, the calcite coating is very thin and always damaged. So preparing the material is a challenge. Sometimes the spines are preserved, but always broke off. You will see on the pictures below, that the pieces are extremly fragile. Maybe there is a way to preserve, the spines or put them back while preparing? Here is a remains of a spiny one: Here is some finished or nearly finished pieces: From the softer sandy marls: Freshly found Crioceratites (nolani?): Gluing together the pieces: Restoring the missing part with magic sculpt, and coloring it with powdered stone to imitate the stone molds thin calcite coating. (the color was really hard to match, and I am not satisfied with it, but I done my best with it) The complete piece, prepared: Here is some pieces from the condensed marls: Freshly found Crioceratites (duvali?): Gluing together the pieces: Restoring the missing parts with magic sculpt, and stone chips from the matrix, and coloring it with powdered matrix There are acrylic lacquer applied, so the fossil is better distinguished from the matrix The complete prepwork: Here is another heteromorph, Anahamulina (acuaria?): After prepping out of stone: (need further work) With kind regards

Hey guys, I have many Cretaceous Shark Teeth up for trading. I will send them in a small envelope with around 10-20 inside for a random fossil that I will not be able to find in NJ. I found these at Ramanessin Brook, NJ. Please let me know if interested. Thanks.

Hello all, I'm originally from Maine but currently live in Western Massachusetts just outside of Amherst. Throughout my life I've had a deep love of natural history and the sciences. On a work trip to Texas this past week I was planning some adventures while on the road, and stumbled across this forum and the references to Post Oak Creek in Sherman, TX. I booked a hotel in town and adventured along the creek; not knowing what I might find. When I found my first cretaceous sharks tooth laying on the bank of the river, I was thrilled to no end - and the fire was lit. A love of paleontology was born. I spent a couple days hunting along the creek and made a trip out to the North Sulphur River as well. I've got a lot of great finds to share and could use some help identifying a few mystery specimens. I'll be following up with some posts to the fossil ID discussion. Looking forward to benefiting from all the knowledge and information available from this site and its members! Having scanned through many of the topics and posts already, I'm impressed by the organization and overall decorum. Thank you to all those that contribute to making this forum possible. Here's few of the specimens I found at Post Oak Creek. I'm still sorting the collection after shipping it back East and will post more photos later: Warm Regards, Nate

I was at one of the Monmouth Co Brooks this week and found this odd looking thing and at first I thought it was a concretion but it doesn't look like any I have seen before and I have seen many many many of them. I think it might be a sponge of some kind I have seen them in the M.A.P.S. collection for those who is familiar with the collection. I would like to hear from my fellow forum members and a few opinions if this maybe a possible sponge. I just found this post from 2012

A few years ago, my wife found a super heavy iron and glass coffee table used. We have had it in our home for a long time as is, but recently I decided to re-do it. (I wish I had before photos, but sorry.) I went to the lumberyard and bought some 1/4" plywood, and some 2 X 3 boards and some hinges. I pulled the heavy glass out of the recessed top of the table, and replaced with plywood. I then made a frame out of the 2X3's that fits on the table. I cut a recess in it to take the glass. When it is set back on the table it provides a gap about 1 3/4" between the glass and the plywood for fossils. I hinged one side to allow access and to keep the new top in place. I added some dividers and then a bunch of fossils from around my area. One end starts with stuff from the Lincoln limestone. Just above that is the Pfeifer Shale layer, followed by the Fairport, then Blue Hill Shale, Codell Sandstone, and finally the other end has Niobrara chalk fossils. I'll add some close ups of the different sections. I'm very happy to have these right here where I can look at them every day and enjoy them instead of having them out in the shop in bags!

Found this at Post Oak Creek. Symphseal tooth of some sort but much different than any I have found or seen. Would love some help on IDing this one.

Hello Everyone, I've been lurking for a year or so on the forum, and appreciate the members intellect and interaction on this forum. I do a lot of sifting streams, and came upon this bone washed out from the mud bank in what is usually a NJ Cretaceous stream, though I believe there are some Pleistocene? era fossils that are found there from time to time. Any idea what it may be? Interestingly, there were some type of rodent? gnaw bites on it too from what looks like a long time ago. I have a few other images I will upload too. Two other small bones were found alongside it that may or may not be related to it. Thank you for letting me into your community! I will most definitely be sharing other finds with you all. Nick

Finally got out for a bit of a fossicking trip to Richmond in central Queensland, did not bring much back home but overall a good trip. I went out to get more matrix from the hole where I have found some Mesozoic bird fossils and drop off to the museum the couple of fragments found while sieving through last trips matrix. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-19/dinosaur-bird-found-in-outback-queensland/8453740?pfmredir=sm Saturday 22 April 2017 - Day 1: Drove 5 hours out to Richmond and after a quick lunch went out to the quarry and went to the spot where I had found 30 odd Ichthyosaur on the last day of my trip earlier in the year to dig deep into to wall of the quarry, but as it is a working quarry much had changed and no luck there so I spent the rest of the afternoon specking and found one nice sharks tooth and half a baby ichthyosaur vert from I spot I had worked over a couple of years back. Yes I already had the other half at home. Early day so back to the pub and watch my team play football. Sunday Day 2: At the quarry by 7:00 and I started to dig down the 300 mm (1 foot) in the spot where the bird fossils came from and by 11:00 I had one bag of matrix in the back of the car and had the rest of the area where I wanted to dig down to the capping layer of rock over the matrix layer. I normally drive back to the caravan park to get out of the sun about this time but the local palaeontologist Patrick turned up and we got to chatting and having a general look around, so I did not go back for lunch until 1:00 pm. I then went for a visit to a local friend’s place for a chat so did not get back to the quarry until about 5:00 pm. I then dug out the other bag and half of matrix from my hole and left the quarry at dusk. I will see what I find in this lot of matrix before I decide where to dig next. Monday Day 3: At the quarry by 7:00 and thought I would have another look around where I had found the Ichthyosaur verts on the last trip but soon decided well and truly gone. I then decided to check along the wall of the quarry at the same level where I had picked up the verts on the last trip and noticed a Ichthyosaur rib in the side of the quarry face. After a quick dig around the rib to see if I could get it out I found more fossil bone so I excavated I bit more and decided there would be too much material for me to dig out and to material looked quite promising to having a fair bit of the skull there even if it was disarticulated, so I gave it a quick cover up and left. I then went back to Richmond to get the palaeontologist from the museum to have a look. I got him at about 8:15 on his way to work and once the museum was open Patrick came out to the quarry. We exposed a bit more of the fossil material and decided there was the potential to be a fair amount of the Ichthyosaur there based on the way the skull elements were facing. As I already knew, we also decided it needed to come out as a full dig and would need a backhoe to dig down to the layer where the fossil was as well as needing several people to lift the sections out and transport back to the museum for preparing. I was a funny feeling recovering the fossil that I had just found. We then pegged out the area and marked it with a Kronosaurus Dig Site sign, to be properly fenced of later. By 11:00 we got back to the Museum and looked a some of the bird material that I and some others had found next to the hole so are associated material. What I will say is with every bit someone finds of the bird material the better picture of what the association is with other Mesozoic birds found across the globe. After a break for lunch I went back to the quarry and did a bit more specking and talking to others out at the quarry. I picked up a turtle jaw in a piece of rock but not much else and left the quarry at dusk. Tuesday Day 4: Up early and on the road home by 6:30 for the five hour drive home and unpack the ute ready to go to work on Wednesday. Mike D'Arcy

Hey all! I have 2 different types of shark teeth I am having a little trouble identifying. I have a some ideas, but I would like any input y'all may have. They were found in north Mississippi in a cretaceous outcrop. Any help is appreciated!

This past weekend some good buddies and I headed down to a river in SE NC which is known for producing cretaceous fossils in a lag deposit among other things. The group consisted of folks from NC, VA, MD and PA. Weather forecast Saturday for central/eastern VA and NE NC was really BAD, but forecast was great for where we were headed, mid-80s, mostly sunny with a nice breeze. Even more exciting and important to us (especially at this time of year), the river level was low enough for us to access the lag deposit material. In the field with us for the first time were a few of Ray's @aerogrower "magic cubes." They came in the mail about an hour before I headed south with the boat and I was hoping they would bring us all good luck. Obviously, they did that and more! I just wish Don @sixgill pete could have joined us. Maybe next time. Most of us met Friday night at the hotel, had a great dinner at a local steak & seafood place across the street and then hung out chatting and catching up about life since our last fossil hunting trip together. Two of our group were still gun shy of the hotel from their encounter with "bed bugs" during our December trip, so they drove in early Saturday morning to meet us. Saturday morning started out with perfect weather and eight (8) very excited fossil hunters. Getting the boat in at the ramp was interesting to say the least, given its shad season and the fishermen were everywhere on the ramp, dock, etc. They didn't like having to stop or move even for just a few minutes so we could launch. Water temp was in the low 70s and we headed out to our intended location. When we got there, we perused the area, discussed and debated what was the best strategy and where to start. 2 others started a spot to the right of the boat and I started a spot to the left of the boat. My very 1st screen produced a bunch of sharks teeth and 2 deinosuchus vertebrae, 1 with very fresh shovel marks, if you know what I mean. I will try and post photos of the shark teeth & vert, coprolites, misc. croc teeth and other stuff this evening. One of our group moved farther to the left and started exploring and surface collecting. Dang if he didn't come walking back up with a nice deinosuchus tooth and other stuff, right off the beach. Here's a photo of some of @Daleksec and his dad's croc/deinosuchus teeth. They have quite a few more. Note one of Ray's "cubes" getting its inaugural photo op. Eventually, the guys to the right of the boat gave up and helped explore my area. They are nice folks and good friends, so I only minded a little. :-) j/k So, wouldn't you know that it would have to be one of my buddies who pulled this beauty of a Hadrosaur vert out. This particular friend is known by all to have a lucky golden horseshoe in a certain place. While all this was going on, @Daleksec had walked farther down to the left where his dad was exploring and found this vertebrae exposed in situ. Note, Ray's @aerogrower "magic cube" making another appearance in this photo. As you can tell, the vert came out in several pieces despite our best efforts. Daleksec will put it back together as best as possible and we'll post more photos of it. During the course of Saturday, one of our friends found 2 nice Theropod teeth with one being about an inch and one being about 1/4 inch. Both were serrated. I will add photos once they are cleaned up. Besides the multitude of croc and shark teeth and the 2 deinosuchus verts I found early on, one of my prizes from Saturday was this gorgeous, but yet suggestively shaped object. :-) The laughter and stories going around about my coprolite find are not fit for printing on a family oriented website. We finally finished up hunting/collecting about 415pm Saturday with most of us filthy and sore but VERY happy as we headed back to the boat ramp. Saturday evening was another night of hanging out, chatting and a great dinner with good friends. Though, we did go to bed much earlier than Friday night and Ibuprofen was definitely on the menu. Sunday morning we woke to drizzle, low-50s and breezy. It was going to be a cold/wet ride in the boat back to our spot. Not to mention, at least one thunderstorm had come through in the early hours of the morning. Forecast looked OK though with a little drizzle but most of the rain holding off till after 1pm. We got back to our spot and started at it again. Quite a few more deinosuchus teeth/verts were found along with many more sharks teeth and other assorted goodies. Given the awesome and spectacular finds everyone else had on Saturday, I rubbed my newly acquired "magic cube" for some personal good luck. About an hour into the hunting, the magic cube came through for me. While working through the matrix I heard this distinct "chunk" sound of metal hitting on something very solid. I should have snapped a photo right then but there was no way I was vacating the spot so one of my friends could jump in given the heads turning around at the "chunk" sound. I probed a little more and pulled this beautiful hunk of bone out. This is the very first Hadrosaur vertebrae I've ever found. I've been present when several others were found (by the friend with the golden horseshoe), and he even found a very nice dino toe bone in front of me. But this one is mine. After all the excitement and joking about my "happy" dance died down we went back to the task at hand. And, of course it didn't take long for the golden horseshoe to show up AGAIN!!! He pulled this Hadrosaur tail vertebrae out about a foot from where I had found mine. The cube was working it's magic. About 1230p it started sprinkling and was threatening to turn into a steady rain. We packed up and headed back to the ramp. Photos of all 3 Hadrosaur verts in the next post.

This morning I was moving some of my fossil crab concretions around and tryin to orginize a bit and ran into this Beauty! It had collected a bunch of dust. I had to wash it off even! Now, finally, its in the house. Just wish these pics could do the color on this thing some justice, but im not good at photography. Its got some wonderful purples that you can not see. My son found this many years ago and it took me many hours of prep with lots and lots of sanding and then a coating of some kind of 2 part system, but it came out purty good. RB

Hi! I found some pieces of petrified wood of Cretaceous Period, and same time found some fossile that has not typical structure for wood. It looks like fingerprints or something. I think that it is bone. Could somebody tell me what is this, and if it is bone - what animal it was belong to? It was found in Kazakhstan. Sorry for my english and thank you! Triangle "Knife" form from sideview Macrophoto of fossile stricture

Hello everyone! I need a little help on a few fossils from Big Brook. I'm trying to find out the genus of this ammonite and echinoid. I'm particularly curious about the echinoid, as I haven't heard of them being there. The last appears to be a tooth with some socket attached (under a loop, the root part looked reptilian so im leaning towards plesiosaur not not sure). Thanks in advance! -Frank

Hello everyone, I just wanted to ask, is Mosasaurus maximus the same species as Mosasaurus hoffmani? Thanks