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Is this a real Mosasaur tooth?


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2 hours ago, CXj321 said:

 I bought this mosasaur tooth from a gift shop for a really cheap price, is it fake?

IMG_20200819_163617.jpg

Looks the wrong shape; too long and thin, but I’m not an expert. Looks more like the plesiosaur tooth in my daughter’s collection.

Wait for expert opinion though. 

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Moved to IS IT REAL

 

More images of both sides from directly above the tooth will help with ID. ;) 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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It is real. Moroccan mosasaur teeth are mined out at an industrial scale in the phosphate mines near Oued Zem, Morocco. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. 

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It appears to have been glued or at least repaired in the middle, pictures of different angles may help more. 

"The baneful Dragons, O Seas, are gone: Fiends, 0 Earth, have filled thee with the bones of Defeat and Death."

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I would agree that the tooth is a real fossil. Like Praefectus said, mosasaur teeth are commonly mined and exported from Moroccan phosphate mines, with a lot of variation given that there are a number of mosasaur fauna present in the deposits the mines operate. IMO, with the comments on repairment made by the above posters, the worst authenticity scenario would be that the tooth is a composite, meaning that it is just a bunch of random fossils glued together as if they were a single individual specimen. These are normally common in commercial fossil jaws and skulls (where teeth are plastered together with random bone fossils), but I know some sources that sell composites of small teeth.

If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM!

 

 

Mosasaurus_hoffmannii_skull_schematic.png

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Yes, this is a real mosasaur tooth.

 

Probably an anterior tooth (so, towards the front of the mouth) from a Prognathodon sp. or possibly Halisaurus.

  • I found this Informative 1

Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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