North Carolina Puzzler

[NCSTer]

Never seen one like this before, and after scouring my books I've come up with a blank for ID.
Maybe a fish crushing tooth, or a plate, or even some loose teeth fused together? Possibly some kind of scute?? But from what, or am I way off base? What do ya' think?
Collected from an Early Pleistocene, Waccamaw formation site, Columbus Co, Southeastern North Carolina.
The site is primarily a shell bed, with some fish bits, and an occasional small shark tooth.
Scale is 1mm.

[GeschWhat]

Nice photos! 

[Al Dente]

It looks like the very front part of a burrfish mouth plate. I’ll try to find a photo showing this.

[Al Dente]

I’ve marked in red the area I was referring to. The second picture is the publication where I got the photo.

 

 

[NCSTer]

Thank you for the ID @Al Dente and the research article!

I have some of those mouth plates (quite a bit smaller than what this pc would have come from) but I'll have to get them out for comparison.

You always seem to be able to see the "big picture" from just the bits and pieces!

Thanks.