Search the Community

This morning I finished picking through some collections of micro-matrix I made earlier this year for a project I was working on. I was lucky enough to be able to meet-up with Jack, @Shellseeker to visit a collecting spot on Little Payne Creek where I was able to collect a nice bucket of micro-matrix. The fossils in this feeder creek to the Peace River often exhibit much nicer coloration than the grayscale fossils found in the Peace River itself. I came across a tiny shark tooth (8.5 mm x 5.5 mm) that has me stumped as I've not seen anything quite like it before while micro-matrix picking. You'll see it has lovely caramel cream coloration (looks tasty enough to eat ) but the thing that I found unusual about this tooth is the presence of tiny side cusps. The only species I encounter here in South Florida that has side cusps is the Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus) but the tooth shape is entirely wrong for this species. The shape is generally consistent with Mako (Isurus) but not with the cusps. The age of the material from this location--Peace River Formation (Miocene-Pleistocene) would seem to exclude something like a baby Carcharocles auriculatus or C. angustidens and though I've heard of megs showing primitive cusps on baby teeth, the shape does not fit my concept of Carcharocles. I'm stumped, which is good because this means there is a learning opportunity for me here. Anybody have any thoughts on this tiny caramel beauty? Cheers. -Ken