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Hello All, I have seen a previous topic on FF about Kem Kem Pterosaur teeth vs. fish teeth. Which got me thinking about a tooth that I collected last year from the Toolebuc Formation, Queensland Australia, but just thinking it was a fish tooth, however its quite long, and Im not sure it matches exisiting fish from the Toolebuc. Scale is in CM. Thoughts? thanks Rodney

Disclaimer: I'm still not 100% sure if the layer I'm hunting in is the basal Atco, but I am under the impression that it is for now. Hopefully I'll be able to do a hunt at Midlothian with the DPS some time soon to get a reference for what the Atco is really supposed to look like. In the past month, I've taken another visit to my little Atco spot to try and learn the place a bit better. I scouted farther upstream and downstream as well as another creek not so far out. There were some pretty cool finds, but I'll keep the story short since I've already covered this locality in a previous report. After a bit of creek walking, I was relieved to see that the latest storm had washed out some fresh conglomerate for me to start splitting at the main gravel bar. Most of the teeth present in the matrix are extremely weathered from reworking, but now and then, a pristine specimen can be revealed and carefully extracted. The first of these discoveries came from just the second rock I had picked up. Some of you may relate to that moment of disbelief when you open the two slabs and realize you are face to face with a huge tooth in mint condition. I hate having to glue broken teeth together, so I proceeded with extreme caution. Still not totally sure if this is Cretodus houghtonorum or Cretodus crassidens, but for now I am tentatively calling it C. houghtonorum since its cusp is more gracile and seems to lack the ovular shape of C. crassidens. One interesting feature of the tooth is the presence of a an extra little cusplet which can be seen in the labial views between the central cusp and distal cusplet. Whatever species it may be, it is a first in my collection, so I am am pretty content. I traveled a little ways up a feeder creek and came across the root of a decently sized Cretalamna gertericorum. The matrix was hard, so I ended up having to clean it at home. Sadly the central cusp was really banged up. Tough to spot, but the root of C. gertericorum Cretalamna gertericorum. On the left is the new specimen and on the right is one from my first visit to the site after recent repairs. At a later gravel bar, I finally found something sticking out of the matrix that I had been really hoping to find. Some of you may remember that my last trip to this spot had yielded a prearticular tooth to a meter long pycnodont fish called Acrotemnus streckeri. These fish are also documented as having pharyngeal teeth. I managed to finally pocket one at this site and one at the later site I'll soon cover. I can't say for sure these are from A. streckeri, but their large size does make it a candidate. Pycnodont pharyngeal in situ A couple of pharyngeal teeth I will tentatively assign to Acrotemnus streckeri. It's kinda neat these teeth share the bluish grey color of the prearticular tooth. Before I show off the final find from the main Atco site, I'll quickly go over the second location I visited. The plan was to locate the Atco there as well, but with all of the modifications made to the creek, I wasn't able to find the source of the Atco rubble I found scattered along the stream. Nothing remarkable was found, but that isn't too say I didn't come out with at least a dozen small teeth. Here a couple pictures of some interesting geologic formations. Huge ripples were found on a lot of the washed out matrix. Located in the uppermost Arcadia Park was this limy layer that was rich in vertebrate material and gastropods. I came across this giant concretion that really stood out. I wonder if anything's inside it. And here is an overview of the smaller finds from the trips: Top L to R: Squalicorax falcatus, Cretodus houghtonorum, and Cretalamna gertericorum Bot L to R: Xiphactinus sp., Acrotemnus streckeri, and various ptychodus Back to the main site, as I was wrapping up the day, I came across some hardened material on the shale bottom of the creek bed above the conglomerate layer. Usually these sort of things are only broken oyster bits, but the shape and density of this one seemed odd so I went in for a closer look before noticing how dark the object was underneath the algal growths. It soon became clear that this was a string of 5 very large fish vertebrae and I begun working around the fossil to pop it out whole. Thankfully, I was able to do just that and the sight as I flipped it over sent me jumping up and down. I scoured the surrounding area, but did not locate any more of the fish. Makes me imagine one day 90ish million years ago this chunk of fish was all that was left after a shark attack or maybe something of the like. After bringing it home, I was able to scrub off the larger chunks of algae, but a hard "calcareous" layer remained attached directly to the bone. I tried soaking it over multiple nights in a bleach water solution and slowly worked off pieces with a dental pick during the day. The plan was to use the other side as display, so I wasn't too concerned with abusing the algal side, but of course I would have liked to have as little damage done as possible. One of the verts was offset, so it quickly broke off from the stress of picking at it. Later another vert came off, but this wasn't an issue as I could easily glue them back later. The work was tedious and took time. On the display side, I worked off the shale with a needle and frequent brushing. Slowly the form become more and more apparent. Soon enough, I decided it was time to get the paraloid out. On a site with so many professional preppers, I'm sure this doesn't look all that impressive, but I am suuuper happy to have this on display and proud of the work. It's fun to hold and imagine the sheer size of the beast these bones once belonged to. I hope you all enjoy it as well. Thanks for reading

So yesterday, I found several associated verts to a large fish. It was partially exposed on the creek bottom and it had been awhile since the last rain, so tons of algae grew on it. I managed to pop it out in one piece and have begun trying to clean it up. Since fish and shale are sensitive when it comes to drying and wetting, I've kept it in water for the time being while I attempt to remove the algae. I will paraloid sections later once the algae is gone. I tried submerging the specimen overnight in about 2:5 bleach water solution to kill anything living on it. Afterwards I was able to scrub most of the larger bits of algae off, but there seems to be this millimeter thick layer of yellow algae/hardened matrix attached to the bone where it was exposed to water. I don't know if this is some calcium buildup or what, but it's tough to pry off and sometimes takes chunks of bones with it. I would try vinegar, but the fossil came out of what I believe to be Atco Fm, so even though the matrix has the appearance of shale, I would expect there to be some calcium carbonate in it that might dissolve. I'd prefer to have the vertebrae stay set in the matrix as the originally were if possible. The ultimate plan is to use the other side for presentation. One of the verts was offset and broke off the main chunk shortly after removal, so I could experiment a little with it first if needed. Thoughts? Thanks

Dear Fellow Fossil Fanatics, I just had a great day at Big Brook, found some shark teeth but also 3 specimens that I am not sure at all what to make of. Any insights would be awesome! Best, Huttner

For the longest time I have puzzled over this strange bone. At first of course I thought it was a "Hynerpton scute," because I have a memory of finding it somewhat near where the holotype was found and no papers picture them, so I couldn't compare. Recently I've doubted its identity as I've researched Ichthyostega scales and scutes, but have no idea of what it actually is. Any ideas? On the imprint nearest to the camera a texture can be seen, shiny smooth with little circular rounded bumps that are the negatives of pores. Size a little less than 1.5 cm from end to end.

Hello all I recently got permission from my family to build a preparation room, so I'm getting some tools to finally start preparing fossils. I've got a few fossils from my own hunts that I can start practicing on, but those are all in extremely hard, sticky rocks, and often badly preserved. I would however like to get some fossils from other locations to practice different techniques, mainly with air abrasion and to get a feel with the preparation of a wild variation of fossils. I picked some fossils (mainly from the USA), that aren't too complex I think, but please correct me if I'm wrong. - Flexicalymene or other trilobites from that are fit to prep with a combination of air abrasion and scribes, preferably some from Ohio, New York, since I think those rocks aren't too hard? - 18 inch Green River fish - White River formation fossils - Hell Creek/Lance... bones, not sure how hard these are, but stuff like this really interests me. I would prefer a couple of partials/broken specimens to practice on, and then a few nice ones to prepare after some first practice. Here are some things I'm offering in return. I will/can probably offer more, but here is at least some of the stuff I can trade. 1: Big (30 cm) vertebra from the Ouled Abdoun location in Morocco. 2 small parts glued back 2: Rooted Carcharodontosaurid tooth from the Kem Kem beds in Morocco, just shy of 10 cm (4 inch). Looks all natural to me. 3: Chilotherium jaw with associated 'tusk'. 4: Chemically prepared Keichousaurus. Very large one (skeleton measures over 30 cm). Slab looks unbroken and all natural. Hope someone can help me

Went to the Brook yesterday and found this curious thing. Leaning towards a fish plate and found something called a porcupine fish but can’t seem to find a genus.

These are some of my Burr fish (or similar) mouth plates from Saint Augustine Beach

Just started this beautiful beast. ~22" Phareodus. About 10hrs in so far with the micro jack thinning the matrix before the abrasive prep. Have to build a larger abrasive cabinet to accommodate it. Will post updates here as I make more progress. Cheers David

I found this fossil for sale from a person that have no idea what it is. As a rookie collector I also have no idea what it is. I would appreciate any suggestions and if it is worth buying.

I was finally able to take a trip to the NSR in 2023. We had a good 11 foot rise so I was optimistic. My whole goal this trip was to find a point, I couldn't find one to save my life, I however did find a few cool fossils. I don't know if i just don't have the eye for it or if i am just looking in the wrong places. The last two pictures are of an item im not sure about anyone have an idea? Possibly a set of fused vertebrae with the two end ones broken off? The haul The vert The mosasaur thing The in-situ And the I don't know what this is

Hello friends. It's been a while since my last post and I wanted to share with you my new acquisitions and, better yet, help me confirm the identification of these specimens. 1: The place of origin is Liaoning, China. 2: The place of origin is Yunnan, China. naraoia? 3: The place of origin is Yunnan, China. Isopyx minor?. 4: The last and my favorite (although a bit fragmented). The place of origin is Harbin, China. I appreciate the ID. They are not the best specimens, but I love these pieces.

I was wondering if anyone ever made the claim to have the smallest articulated fossil, because I think I've got a decent shot! These are the smallest fish I've found so far. There are two Mioplosus labracoides and one Priscacara sp.

I saw this fossil fish online but I cant seem to find any info on pleisotocene fish fossils from indonesia, (I assume its from pleistocene rocks?)

These are from multiple trips between 2022-2023. all from Calvert cliffs, each trip has something unique I would like assistance in identifying so for convenience's sake, I will refer to the items in alphabetical order relative to the numerical trip order. 1A 2B etc. Trip 1 1A pretty sure it is a crocodile tooth, Thecachampsa sp? 1B this is a bone that i found on the beach, im not sure if it's a cetacean atlas or skull fragment. but it's got this weird hole in it on one side. 1C clearly a cetacean vert. probably a juvie dolphin. i think so bc it doesn't have any fused epiphysis. id like to know what part of the spine this would have been on the animal. 1D maybe the wing of a vert? 1E is this anything? or just concretion 1F biggest fossil I've found yet by far! this massive chunk of whale jawbone. I am going to make a separate post in fossil prep to see about the best ways to clean it. 1G maybe a rib? i believe its a bone of some sort. i need to paleobond this one back together. Trip 2 2A definetely a tooth of some sort. not sure if its a croc or a cetacean since the enamel is worn 2B maybe a rib? or vert wing? 2C I think this might be a turtle shell, because its texture is not pronounced enough to be a cookie fragment. 2D maybe a skate osteoderm? 2E 2F 2G Sand tiger shark 2H crab claw with some sort of borehole? any other comments or ideas are as always, appreciated!

Last week I went upto Caithness hunting for fossil fish at Achanarras quarry. The rocks there formed at the bottom of a huge lake during the Devonian period 385 mya. Most of the fossils I found were incomplete with mostly the tails missing, but I was lucky enough to find a complete diplacanthus, and fragmented cheiracanthus murchinsoni, which I have managed to superglue back together.