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NJ Cretaceous osteoderm/mouth plate


The Jersey Devil

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Hey everyone,

 

i have this interesting Croc osteoderm/fish mouth plate. I am leaning a lot more towards Croc, but this one looks pretty different than usual because of the dimples being a different shape and arranged in a row; maybe it’s just from a different part of the body. It would also be complete if it’s Croc, which is unusual. Size is about 3/4”. It is definitely not a concretion in case some pics are misleading (some bony structure is still visible on the back of the specimen when looking at it in person).

@non-remanié @frankh8147 @Trevor @Plax @Al Dente @MarcoSr
 

Thanks!

 

 

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“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

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I would tend to lean on Croc more as well. I am by no mean an expert but croc osteoderms have very deep holes/indentations like this one, and this seems very different from the traditional fish pharyngeal mouth plates.

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On The Hunt For The Trophy Otodus!

 

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1 hour ago, FossilsAnonymous said:

I would tend to lean on Croc more as well. I am by no mean an expert but croc osteoderms have very deep holes/indentations like this one, and this seems very different from the traditional fish pharyngeal mouth plates.

 

22 minutes ago, Trevor said:

I am an advocate for it being Croc material as well.


Thanks guys, Croc makes me satisfied :)

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“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

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2 hours ago, The Jersey Devil said:

 


Thanks guys, Croc makes me satisfied :)

I’m not sure if this helps as you already have an I’d, but I’m also currently neck deep in trig homework.

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34 minutes ago, Spoons said:

I’m not sure if this helps as you already have an I’d, but I’m also currently neck deep in trig homework.


Haha that’s just an old formula sheet on my desk. I’m currently taking college math courses. Good luck with trig.

“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

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I was actually just about to say possible mouth plate but saw you posted that above. However with Carl saying phosphate nodule, Id trust him over me. Or anyone else who commented so far

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1 hour ago, Carl said:

Sorry. Not seeing a bone there. It looks more like a regular old phosphate nodule to me. 


As I said in the description, it’s definitely not a concretion as there is some bony material visible in person. It is really hard to see it in the pics. However, it was probably in the stream for a while because it seems ironized.

“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

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Looks like a well worn broken portion of a croc scute.

"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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I think Carl is correct. The holes look similar to those of croc scutes, but of the many images that I checked out, not a one had half the scute without holes. Then the black rock is very characteristic of phosphate nodules. Image from the fossil guy. com

Phosphate pebble from PCS mine, Aurora, NC
 
 

 

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2 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

I think Carl is correct. The holes look similar to those of croc scutes, but of the many images that I checked out, not a one had half the scute without holes. Then the black rock is very characteristic of phosphate nodules. Image from the fossil guy. com

 
Phosphate pebble from PCS mine, Aurora, NC
 
 

 


It is very different looking from a typical phosphate rock. Yes, it is atypical for them to not have dimples in a large portion of the osteoderm, but I was thinking this is simply a species and/or positional variation.

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“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

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On 2/6/2020 at 7:39 PM, hadrosauridae said:

Looks like a well worn broken portion of a croc scute.


It doesn’t look like it’s missing much.

“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

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Looks like you have roughly half of the scute.  They are roughly symmetrical in design, and almost always have a center crest line.  Yours looks to be broken just off that crest.

"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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8 minutes ago, hadrosauridae said:

Looks like you have roughly half of the scute.  They are roughly symmetrical in design, and almost always have a center crest line.  Yours looks to be broken just off that crest.


I thought Crocs mostly had a smooth surface while gators have the symmetrical pattern with the crest in the middle. Or do crocs have that too?

“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

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I'm not an expert, I just know what examples I have recovered.  Late cretaceous, hell creek fm croc scutes have all had the crested, symmetrical, "swiss-cheese" design, but they have all been broken and most highly worn pre-deposition.  

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"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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