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Mississippian Shark/Fish To Get Suggestions On


minnbuckeye

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The colder days of late has allowed me to work on the Burlington matrix that I brought home this summer. It has revealed some real treasures, at least for me. But I am stymied on a few finds and look for some opinions of forum members.  

 

1. A few questions on the first piece. My goal was to clean up a large piece of ??? Shark spine? While cleaning, two teeth were uncovered. Here is the "backside" tooth.

 DSC_0120-001.JPG.70bf6607cd9e8c04ca6b31df88217dcd.JPG 

 

Now the "front side" tooth 

DSC_0121-001.JPG.17730b45d100d7de970bab0063e02e4e.JPG  

 

Initially just the tip of the tooth was showing, but as I progressed with cleaning, this "moustache" was exposed with the tooth at the very tip. I am very curious to understand this as well as what the long linear specimen is above it.  

 

 DSC_0118-001.thumb.JPG.f818dd0b7661f9a23a04fdaace8338fd.JPG

 

2. Looks like a trilobite eye but I will venture some type of shark tooth??

 DSC_0116-001.JPG.6c067617e2e3df2d9822d4fb46edc22d.JPG

 

3. The matrix where these specimens were found is white. So any time a dark spot is seen, a fossil exists, at least most of the time. Here is a dark item I assumed when I started its exposure was a tooth of some kind. But I concluded, just a "rock". After seeing it sit on the workbench for a few days, I kept thinking about the LACK of any matrix that wasn't white. So my thoughts went to the possibility of a coprolite.  I will tag @GeschWhat for her opinion too. 

DSC_0102-001.JPG.6fe0f44d3c25551854cd2da051354436.JPG

 

4. Open to suggestions on this SMALL tubular structure. 

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 5.  I couldn't find a confident ID on this tooth.

 DSC_0108-001.JPG.273b00ae9d5d35567be745315cb414fd.JPG 

 

6. Again, I have no clue on this one. It looks like Mickey Mouse ears, but I can't believe it since this was no where near Disneyland! 

DSC_0099-001.thumb.JPG.5c16a4624b4c452731f4e96d26981ae5.JPG

 

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I have no experience with any of these teeth, but a little browsing keeps bringing me to the Mississippian shark Helodus, especially for tooth #2

A couple of relevant forum posts are here and here

 

 

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Start the day with a smile and get it over with.

 

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Your friendly neighborhood Mississippian shark nerd here. Here are my assessments!

1. This looks to me like a Cladodus sp. tooth because of the prominent central cusp and its continuous curve backwards. If the cusp were S-shaped, or sigmoidal, then it would probably be Stethacanthus sp.

The long, linear specimen is probably a chondrichthyan spine. The moustache-shaped tooth is another Cladodus sp. tooth on account of its lateral cusplets and strong indentation at the base of the central cusp. The central cusp (if intact) is currently buried within the matrix and may be able to be revealed if you continue prepping it. That's an *excellent* find.

2. This little guy is likely Helodus sp.

3. I agree that it's probably a coprolite.

4. No idea; the image is too small for me to ID it.

5. Venustodus sp.

 

6. The image isn't focused enough for me to ID it.

 

Nice finds! :)

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@Elasmohunter, THANKS for responding. I thought you either developed covid or fell off the edge of the earth!! Glad neither happened. Reality is, I hated to bother you. 

 

Mike

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On 12/15/2020 at 9:51 AM, minnbuckeye said:

3. The matrix where these specimens were found is white. So any time a dark spot is seen, a fossil exists, at least most of the time. Here is a dark item I assumed when I started its exposure was a tooth of some kind. But I concluded, just a "rock". After seeing it sit on the workbench for a few days, I kept thinking about the LACK of any matrix that wasn't white. So my thoughts went to the possibility of a coprolite.  I will tag @GeschWhat for her opinion too. 

DSC_0102-001.JPG.6fe0f44d3c25551854cd2da051354436.JPG

Photo is too small to tell for sure, but the shape is right. I'm not familiar with poop from that formation.

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