bthemoose Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 I made it out to Matoaka yesterday before today’s snowstorm and had a successful Maryland Miocene hunt, despite a large amount of ice obscuring the shoreline. (I won’t complain about the cold after @RuMert’s trip report yesterday. ) I found an unusually high number of cetacean vertebrae and cookies (epiphyses), several Ecphoras, shark teeth, and some other nice finds. This Carcharodon hastalis tooth was waiting for me when I arrived on the beach. And this cookie was just a few feet away. Off to a good start! Heading north, the ice got progressively thicker along the shoreline, and for significant stretches covered up all of the gravels at water’s edge. But there were still a few things deposited further up the tideline from before temperatures dropped below freezing. ...including my second cookie of the day. ...and my third—it’s incomplete but is the biggest one I’ve found to date. As the day went on, the sunlight started to melt some of the ice, revealing additional fossils, such as this nice little Ecphora—the colors on these always look so much better when wet! Here’s my favorite find of the day: a small partial ray mouth plate. On first glance, this looked very much like just a seed husk in the water—I’m glad I took a closer look. I didn't find a ton of shark teeth, but the ones I found were generally of good quality, including this Hemi hiding in the sand. This is a weird one. It’s only part of a tooth (croc? cetacean?) and may not be identifiable, but has a bump/ridge across the tooth—almost like a restart of the crown. Pathological perhaps? Or maybe just a tooth design I’m unfamiliar with. If anyone has ideas, let me know. I'll post another photo below and can take additional ones from other angles if helpful. Here's a decent-sized croc (I think) tooth. Most of the enamel has worn off except for a small section on the side. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bthemoose Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 Here are my best finds of the day. You can see the bump/ridge more clearly here on the weird-looking partial tooth. This is the only section of enamel left on the croc tooth. And here's the partial ray plate. On closer inspection this morning, I was happy to see there are two lateral teeth on this piece (the small hexagonal sections on the lower right). The "business end" of the crush plate: 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Ice and snow bring luck My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Nice day's hunting. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Nice haul! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossilis Willis Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 hour ago, RuMert said: Ice and snow bring luck Or at least help weed out the competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bthemoose Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 8 hours ago, RuMert said: Ice and snow bring luck 8 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said: Nice day's hunting. 7 hours ago, Ludwigia said: Nice haul! Thanks! 7 hours ago, Fossilis Willis said: Or at least help weed out the competition. True -- I wasn't the only one out there, but there were only a few of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 What was the temperature ? I thought that Maryland was a warm state, with delphinarium and other hot and sunny distractions... Nice finds ! Coco ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bthemoose Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 4 hours ago, Coco said: What was the temperature ? I thought that Maryland was a warm state, with delphinarium and other hot and sunny distractions... Nice finds ! Coco Thanks! Maryland definitely has winters, though this has been a relatively mild one so far, with the low temperatures on most days still above freezing and perhaps only a couple of days with temperatures below freezing all day (at least where I live). From online, it looks like the temperature when I arrived was around 25 ºF and when I left was around 38 ºF (-4 to 3 ºC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minnbuckeye Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 20 hours ago, RuMert said: Ice and snow bring luck @RuMert, Ice and snow bring ice fishing in Minnesota. I guess that involves a bit of luck too. @bthemoose, nice trip report!!! (package on it's way) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeannie55 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 I’m sure braving the cold and ice was worth the rewards. What exactly are cookies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 I've tried ice fishing, but it felt like a big science by itself. I guess fishing and fossil hunting have much in common, that's why there are many people who practice both. Competition is also important, it's better to be 1st in a poor site than 2nd in a rich one 2 My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bthemoose Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 11 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said: @RuMert, Ice and snow bring ice fishing in Minnesota. I guess that involves a bit of luck too. @bthemoose, nice trip report!!! (package on it's way) Thank you—and I look forward to receiving the package! 2 minutes ago, jeannie55 said: I’m sure braving the cold and ice was worth the rewards. What exactly are cookies? The cookies are epiphyseal plates located at the ends of juvenile cetacean vertebae (they would have been in between the vertebrae). In more mature individuals, these would have eventually fused to the vertebrae, but if the animal died while still a juvenile, then the cookies can fossilize and be found independently. There’s a bumpy and a smooth side to these: the bumpier side is most clear in the photo of my second cookie find, while the photo of the third, large, partial cookie is of its smooth side. The bumpier side is the one that would have fused to the vertebra. If you look at the photo of all my finds, on the far right hand side, midway up, there’s a vertebra that similarly has that bumpy texture on the end (it has this on both ends but you can’t see that in this photo). That means this vertebra was also from a juvenile — the bumpy side of the vertebra and the bumpy side of the cookie would have faced each other and eventually fused as the animal matured. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveltip1 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 nICE Day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeannie55 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Thank you for the excellent explanation. I think in humans there’s a line on the long bones of children that indicate growth. In fact it’s called by laymen the growth line. My son broke his leg when he was a teen and I think the doctor called it the epiphyseal line or it was similar to that and he was happy the break missed the line. He said he thought my son had a few more inches of growth left. He grew four more inches. I guess all vertebrates have some form of growth determiner. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HemiHunter Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 That's a great trip, Bruce, and a great report. Nice going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint08 Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 Great trip from the looks of it! I was out there in the morning as well, didn't find to much for teeth but I did get a couple smaller ecphora and a nice sized whale vert. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkdoctor Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 That looks like a fun day on the water! Did you make it to Western Shores? -a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bthemoose Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 On 2/1/2021 at 9:15 AM, traveltip1 said: nICE Day On 2/1/2021 at 9:55 PM, HemiHunter said: That's a great trip, Bruce, and a great report. Nice going! Thanks! 22 hours ago, Clint08 said: Great trip from the looks of it! I was out there in the morning as well, didn't find to much for teeth but I did get a couple smaller ecphora and a nice sized whale vert. Verts are always a nice find! 7 hours ago, sharkdoctor said: That looks like a fun day on the water! Did you make it to Western Shores? -a Thanks—I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notidanodon Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Great finds Bruce love that mouthplate! I’ve allways wanted to find one of those Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilsAnonymous Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Nice work! Beautiful partial ray mouth piece! The croc tooth is nice as well. On The Hunt For The Trophy Otodus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hokietech96 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Great finds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilcrazee Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Great finds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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