NJ Cretaceous Monster Teeth

[historianmichael]

I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday after an unusually cold May day on Saturday to visit one of the Cretaceous brooks of Monmouth County, NJ. I spent about 4 hours collecting. I ended up staying in one spot and I am so glad I did not move. The spot just kept producing. Every screen had at least one fossil tooth in it. Some of the shark teeth were the largest, most complete shark teeth I have in my collection. I left a lot of the smaller, more broken shark teeth there because I was finding so much. I also found two Enchodus palatine fangs, a nearly complete fish vertebra, two Anornaeodus phaseolus crusher teeth, a crustacean walking leg, two Ischyrhiza mira rostral spines, a cow nosed ray dermal denticle, and a tiny piece of coral. Towards the end of the day, I even found a mosasaur tooth in one of my last screens. Unfortunately the brook had already gotten to it and it was split in half and worn down. Better luck next time!

 

 

 

Here are some of my favorite finds from yesterday:
 

Mosasaur tooth (Mosasaurus sp.)

 

Goblin Shark Anterior Tooth (Scapanorhynchus texanus)

 

Juvenile Goblin Shark Anterior Tooth (Scapanorhynchus texanus)

 

Goblin Shark Lateral Tooth (Scapanorhynchus texanus)

 

Goblin Shark Lateral Tooth (Scapanorhynchus texanus)

 

Mackerel Shark Posterior Tooth (Archaeolamna kopingensis)

 

Crow Shark Lateral Tooth (Squalicorax kaupi)

 

Sawfish Rostral Spine (Ischyrhiza mira)

 

Cow Nosed Ray Dermal Denticle (Possibly Rhombodus laevis)

 

Pycnodont Crusher Tooth (Anornaeodus phaseolus)

 

Fish Vertebra

 

Tiny Piece of Coral

[Trevor]

Hey, those are some awesome finds. I really enjoy seeing the fossils propped up on their cotton pedestals and thanks also for including the scientific names. I went collecting on Saturday in Monmouth, perhaps I should post my finds? The Mosasaurus sp. tooth and dermal denticle together are nice. Good job.

[The Jersey Devil]

Great teeth! The below tooth is a juvenile Scapanorhynchus 

 

39 minutes ago, historianmichael said:

 

[historianmichael]

@Trevor Thank you! It was a good day. You should definitely create your own post to show off what you found. I often use other people's trip posts to help with identification. 

 

@The Jersey Devil I will make the change in my original post. I am happy you like the teeth. Still looking for my first Eostriatolamia. I hope I got the other identifications right!