rapp beach hunts

[Rowboater]

Too hot to get out much and lots of competition on the beach (or at least footprints).  More beach glass than teeth lately.  Here's from several trips:

 

Drum and angel (side one):

drum and angel, side 2:

 

Shrimp coprolite burrows (evidently those looking for teeth ignore these):

 

Some teeth (rootless mako and sand tiger symphyseal), skate spikes, broken vert:

 

 

 

[FossilsAnonymous]

Skate spikes are pretty cool! Great finds!

[Neanderthal Shaman]

Nice teeth! This was in Virginia?

[fossilnut]

What age are the shrimp coprolite burrows? In the 4th picture down, the large tooth right middle appears to be hollow enamel? (May be filled in with sediment) If this is true it is likely to be a developing tooth from the back files. The roots develop last. First the outer enamel shell, then the interior material and finally the root. These are fairly rare to find. Which tooth is the sand tiger symphyseal?

[Fossildude19]

Nice finds! Not too shabby, all things considered.

I hear you on the heat. I've been melting here in CT for about a week. 

[Rowboater]

@FossilsAnonymous @Fossildude19 As always, thanks for the comments and hope you guys are finding some nice stuff!  @Neanderthal Shaman  Yes, this was from a beach on the Rappahannock River not far from its mouth.  @fossilnut,  @Carl, @GeschWhat  Carl is the expert on "callianassid thalassinidean coprolites in the Cretaceous" period, although there are (surprising to me!) lots of scientific papers and some controversies on these things.  GeschWhat first identified the coprolites in my samples and even IDed likely genus, and also has a keen interest in coprolites in general (our expert!)  I have found many in both places I hunt, and think there are ignored by most shark tooth and fossil collectors in Virginia.

@fossilnutI believe the left bottom tooth is a sand tiger symphysial.  It is small, thin (almost like a split tooth but not) and has the characteristic flattened root.  Not as dramatic as the cowshark symphyseals (as in FossilAnonymous' avatar), but the sand tiger shark is the most common tooth where I hunt and their symphyseals are rare, but I have found about a dozen (only one cowshark symphyseal ever).

The teeth scan is not great (I was trying to capture the cuspids, mostly failed) and I believe that tooth is solid(?) but the color transition is real (and common).  Would such teeth be grooved, or just lighter in weight?  I have lots of split sand tiger teeth, will look to see if any are hollow.

[fossilnut]

@RowboaterI am attaching a picture of a developing tooth from back files that I found. This one was just the enamel with no permanent infilling of sediment (cemented in). I am not sure what you mean by grooved? Yes the tooth is lighter in weight. Thanks for pointing out the symphyseal tooth. I am unclear about the age of the coprolites you are finding? Cretaceous on the Rappahannock? Those are so cool to find.

 

 

[Rowboater]

@fossilnut, thanks for the photo.  I have seen teeth like that, I'll have to look for them (Guess I thought the enamel had separated from the tooth, not that the tooth was still developing).  Most stuff I find is from the Miocene, but @Carl has published scientific papers on the coprolites (from the Cretaceous), and @GeschWhat has spent a lot of time studying them as well, so they can probably tell you more than I can.  I just pick up the burrows when I see them!  

 

[Rowboater]

@fossilnut  Found a hollow mako tooth yesterday, much like the one in your photo.  Will try to get a good photo with my cell phone, the scanner only shows front and back.

[Rowboater]

Clearly hollow in the center.  Not sure stuff on sides is sand or developing tooth.  @fossilnut Blunt tip, 1" mako

[fossilnut]

@Rowboater Sure looks like a developing tooth (enameloid only). I had shown mine to the paleontologist at The Calvert Marine Museum who confirmed. A year ago saw a sizeable meg hollow tooth. Great find.