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Is there a visual guide for tiny shark teeth?


thelivingdead531

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I was curious if there was a visual guide to tiny (between 1-5mm) shark teeth from Florida? I’m almost done going through a bag of micro matrix and have found at least 100 very small teeth that I would love to identify without bombarding the forum with more questions than I’ll already be asking on other items I’ve found. I can usually tell what they are when they’re larger, but these tiny teeth are somehow more difficult to me. The area that the matrix came from was described as a shallow bay that would have served as a nursery for sharks and other aquatic animals, so I’m guessing that they may be juvenile teeth? I would appreciate any help I can get here so I don’t have to constantly ask you all what shark a tooth may have come from, it’s really in the forum’s best interest here. :D

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Have you looked at the www.elasmo.com website? Many Florida teeth are the same as teeth from Lee Creek that are pictured on the site. I think people on the forum would like to see your small teeth.

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@thelivingdead531 I hear you I’m running into the same issue. Not super familiar with the smaller teeth. Looking forward to getting my microscope to take detailed pictures to help ID. Elasmo is a great resource!

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11 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

Have you looked at the www.elasmo.com website? Many Florida teeth are the same as teeth from Lee Creek that are pictured on the site. I think people on the forum would like to see your small teeth.

I haven’t, but it sounds like a great start. Thank you! I will post a photo of a pinch of tiny teeth here in a minute.

 

6 minutes ago, hokietech96 said:

@thelivingdead531 I hear you I’m running into the same issue. Not super familiar with the smaller teeth. Looking forward to getting my microscope to take detailed pictures to help ID. Elasmo is a great resource!

I just ordered gem jars and am now dying to get a microscope. Some of these teeth are have amazing colors and I would love to see them closer than my handheld magnifier can show me. I will have a good look through Elasmo! Thank you!

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Here is a small sample of the tiny teeth I'm finding. 

20200605_172238.jpg

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Sorry I can't point you to a visual guide, but maybe Ken @digit knows of something like that, or another helpful resource? He lives in Florida and likes to sort through micro matrix. :) 

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Elasmo is one of my go to sites for visual ID. If I'm picking micro-matrix from a particular locality that has scientific papers written about the formation then that is often the most informative.

 

I do well with distinctive teeth but I'm garbage with the more confusing ones with subtle differences. I can spot a Cookiecutter Shark tooth at 50 paces. :P

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

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31 minutes ago, FossilNerd said:

Sorry I can't point you to a visual guide, but maybe Ken @digit knows of something like that, or another helpful resource? He lives in Florida and likes to sort through micro matrix. :) 

 

9 minutes ago, digit said:

Elasmo is one of my go to sites for visual ID. If I'm picking micro-matrix from a particular locality that has scientific papers written about the formation then that is often the most informative.

 

I do well with distinctive teeth but I'm garbage with the more confusing ones with subtle differences. I can spot a Cookiecutter Shark tooth at 50 paces. :P

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

Thank you both! I will take a look through Elasmo to help. 

 

You must have the eyes of an eagle to spot a tooth like that Ken @digit:look:

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 @thelivingdead531, I too have finished my micro matrix from cookie cutter creek. Identification has been difficult. Maybe I will wait until you have yours IDed and then use your visual to help me!!!! Actually, I am purposely putting off further work on identification until Minnesota winter sets back in. 

 

@Al Dente, what percent of micro teeth are just juveniles of Florida's normal shark species verses different species that one would find teeth of only by examining micro mix, like cookie cutter sharks. 

   

Mike

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Another thought is the Florida Paleontological Society (FPS) publication from a few years back which covers teeth found in Gainesville, FL. It covers a good number of the shark/ray teeth you'd find throughout Florida. There was a bit of discussion about a year ago here on the forum:

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/70723-fossil-sharks-and-rays-of-gainesville-creeks-alachua-county-florida/

 

The paper can be ordered from the FPS online store through this link:

 

https://gumroad.com/fps

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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Thank you for pointing me to those resources @Al Dente and @digit! I can’t wait to start doing my research.

 

@minnbuckeye I hope my IDs will help once I finish! I’m already too bored to put it off, but I may have to pick up another bag of matrix once Wyoming winter sets in. :P

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22 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

@Al Dente, what percent of micro teeth are just juveniles of Florida's normal shark species verses different species that one would find teeth of only by examining micro mix, like cookie cutter sharks. 

I have no idea. I have a site that I used to collect here in North Carolina that had teeth of common species that were much smaller than teeth found at other sites of similar age. I’m guessing these were juvenile sharks and some condition made it more favorable for young sharks.

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23 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

@Al Dente, what percent of micro teeth are just juveniles of Florida's normal shark species verses different species that one would find teeth of only by examining micro mix, like cookie cutter sharks. 

Results will vary based on the source of the Florida micro-matrix. I've the most experience with the chondrichthyan teeth from Cookiecutter Creek. Mylobatids (eagle rays) have the elongated flattened teeth that form the paved crushing plates used to process invertebrates with hard shells (mollusks and crustaceans). These teeth are large enough to be found in larger mesh screens but juvenile teeth turn up frequently in micro-matrix. Stingrays (Dasyatis sp.) and wedgefishes (Rhynchobatus sp.) have hundreds of small teeth in their jaws that are small enough that they tend to only be found picking micro-matrix. Mantas (Mobula sp.) have really small teeth (just a few mm) and are only spotted picking the finest micro-matrix.

 

The largest Cookiecutter Shark (Isistius triangulus) teeth are only about 5 mm and will easily fall through a 1/4" mesh screen so those will only be spotted picking micro-matrix.

 

There are rare species of sharks that do not grow to very large sizes which (understandably) have micro-size teeth. Catsharks (Scyliorhinidae), Bullhead Sharks (Heterodontus sp.), and Smooth-hound Sharks (Mustelus sp.) all have small teeth which would not be spotted unless you are picking (a huge amount) of micro-matrix (they are very rare in the fossil record). There are some small sharks like the Sharpnose Sharks (Rhizoprionodon sp.) and the Bonnethead Shark (Sphyrna tiburo), which is the smallest member of the hammerhead family, that are generally under a meter long and so that even their largest teeth tend to be found in micro-matrix.

 

Nurse Sharks (Ginglymostoma sp.) can grow to a decent size but their teeth are relatively small. They do get big enough to spot them in a 1/4" screen Jack @Shellseeker has some real beauties. Mostly, it's the smaller specimens turn up (with great rarity) in micro-matrix.

 

All the rest of the shark species that grow to a larger size and have bigger teeth as adults still have to go through a juvenile growth stage. Many more sharks are born than reach adult size and even those that do make it to adults will shed considerable smaller teeth along the way as they grow so there are always more smaller teeth than larger teeth. The relative rarity of larger specimens of a particular species accounts for the higher value for the bigger lunkers that turn up less frequently. I've found tiny (just a few mm) specimens of Snaggletooth (Hemipristis serra) teeth that are just amazingly small compared to the 50+ mm size of the big adult teeth. I've also found preciously tiny tiger teeth (Galeocerdo sp. and Physogaleus sp.) that were from really young sharks. Sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus) have really small symphyseal teeth even as adults and so this tooth position (as well as the much smaller posterior) teeth are what tend to turn up while picking micro-matrix.

 

Other sharks like the Lemon Sharks (Negaprion sp.) and the Bull/Dusky/Reef Sharks (Carcharhinus sp.) are very common in the fossil record (especially the very diverse Carcharhinus genus). In my experience baby teeth from these genera as well as the relatively smaller Rhizoprionodon teeth that turn up the most frequently while picking micro-matrix.

 

Of course, there are also tiny treasures like barracuda teeth, porgy, pinfish, and a host of small rounded "button" teeth that are the pharyngeal teeth of a few fish families that are common non-chondrichthyan fossil components of micro-matrix.

 

 

Tiny Dasyatis, Rhynchobatus, and Rhizoprionodon teeth are examples of smaller teeth from full grown sharks/rays which are relatively commonly found in micro-matrix. Many of the other oddities (Isistius, Mustelus, Heterodontus, etc.) are quite rare and wouldn't count for much in a total percentage. The bulk of the teeth found, I would guess, are from smaller individuals off common species that have teeth that will eventually grow large enough not to be found in micro-matrix. Broken larger teeth also contribute to the total items found in micro-matrix. I've picked tens of thousands of teeth from micro-matrix over the years but have never considered calculating a percentage of how many are juveniles of larger species. In Cookiecutter Creek, I'd say it's easily the majority but wouldn't hazard a guess more precise than that. I know that the Montbrook dig site that is being worked by the FLMNH has some gritty layers of more coarse sand that they've picked through to see what is in the micro-fossil record. That site has an insane number of Dasyatis sp. stingray teeth and since the adult teeth of this species can still be very small, that site may represent a majority of adult teeth in the micro-matrix instead of a majority of baby teeth from species whose teeth would ultimately be out of micro-matrix range.

 

No clear-cut percentage but some info to consider. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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You can always look at the threads of shark and ray teeth in the "micropaleontology" sub forum here on TFF.

Marco sr. put up some great ones.

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@Al Dente and @digit, I've looked through a few resources and this tiny tooth has me stumped. I didn't find any other teeth like it, and even though it's a partial I'm hoping one of you will be able to help me narrow it down. I did the best I could with the photos, and if it's not enough I'll try again. There are front, back, top, and 2 side views of the same side (that was the hardest to photograph). 

20200608_141854.jpg

20200608_141820.jpg

20200608_141926.jpg

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When I saw this photo,  tiger immediately came to mind:

image.png.f9fb9b75b7e3ad721dab9cca111d44cb.png

 

But the VERY next photo, I wondered about nurse:

image.png.9c4cef8285dd97f75d7f89c012f9a041.png

 

My comparisons:

image.png.b0f6276452f91300b747a82fcf8410fd.png

image.png.afb873b3bafe6589d55226c3de712e36.png

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@Shellseeker When I first came across it I thought tiger shark as well, but then I noticed that the root was a lot thicker than most of the ones I had seen. I saw some photos of nurse sharks during my research and now I’m thinking nurse shark, but I’m often wrong so I thought I’d seek some help. Thank you for showing your comparison photos, it helps. :)

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Always more difficult to say with a non-pristine partial tooth but Nurse Shark is where I was leaning as well. Might to well to search for some images of Ginglymostoma (Nurse Shark) teeth online and make some comparisons. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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43 minutes ago, digit said:

Always more difficult to say with a non-pristine partial tooth but Nurse Shark is where I was leaning as well. Might to well to search for some images of Ginglymostoma (Nurse Shark) teeth online and make some comparisons. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Done and done. There is a very nice image in the member’s gallery that seems to match it quite well...as much as a complete tooth can match my partial, that is. :P 

D6280E05-5F3E-4114-AB86-4DF019927D7A.thumb.jpeg.3a9be4864af7630786b5b3ff94ad0225.jpeg

In more photos of my search online, I would still say Ginglymostoma is the best match. Thanks to everyone who has helped!

 

(I wasn’t quite sure how to cite the photo above as the member hasn’t been on in two years, so I took a screenshot to help identify the owner. I apologize if it’s not acceptable)

 

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