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Catsharks comprise one of the largest extant families of shark with 160 species in 17 genera and there is a good fossil record of the family in addition. The family goes back to the Jurassic and can be found in several well known, heavily collected formations but I have found this to be a very challenging shark to collect. It is tooth that seems to stay in collections which I completely understand. They are tiny, tiny teeth and you have to be hunting for very tiny teeth to find them. They can also be very rare within a fauna which is the case with Sharktooth Hill as I have learned. Extant Catsharks appear in a variety of habitats and at varying depths. This seems to be also be true of extinct Catsharks which can be found in a variety of habitats. The opportunities exist to find cool Catshark teeth but they stay just elusive enough to make them quite a challenge to collect. 

 

Scyliorhinidae hold a special place in our collection. They were a shark that we talked about in every Fossils on Wheels shark themed program we did. One of my favorite personal finds is a Scyliorhinus I picked out of some Cretaceous micro fossil mix. I prize that 1mm tooth like few in my collection. Carter and I both believe that our Lebanese shark fossil is that of a Catshark. It is a shark that I am almost always on the lookout for and an STH Scyliorhinus is sort of my white whale lol

 

I am pretty interested to see what Catsharks might lurk in the great collections here. I have seen some really sweet specimens here so I would invite anybody who to share to show us your awesome Catshark teeth.

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Our oldest Catshark tooth. 

 

Palaeoscyllium formosum

Jurassic

Ringstead Bay 

Weymouth, England

 

A tiny tooth, under 2mm. 

EB3ABB7F-3D15-4A50-AEB4-A28162E40237.jpeg

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Here is a fun one. This tooth was a mystery to me for quite some time. I was never able to get more specific location information but there are publications that I found with teeth from the British Chalk that match very well to genus Pteroscyllium so that is my ID on this really cool little tooth. 

 

Pteroscyllium

Cretaceous

Grey Chalk

Kent, England 

 

C83715AE-D756-43B8-B988-6344BDBE3CC9.jpeg

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A personal find and a personal favorite. Only 1mm. 

 

Scyliorhinus sp

Cretaceous 

Mesaverde Formation 

Delta County Colorado

450F92E7-BFF4-48FC-BF94-970AD3CCBCBA.jpeg

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Interesting thread! Below are a variety of cat shark teeth from the Oligocene Old Church Formation of Virginia. The only thorough manuscript on the sharks from this formation does not include any catsharks. Per Dente's thread, I've relegated them to Pachyscylium, but have no confidence in that ID for all of them, as there is significant variation in form. However, they are cute!

 

Tooth 1. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bf7764422e_OCcat1_resizelingual.thumb.jpg.b385e38524c10f5f7c776c0a04f2d5b3.jpg602bf7772ab5b_OCcat1_resizelabial.thumb.jpg.353048ccf379bd8c61ea2a5e5ed8037f.jpg

 

Tooth 2. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bf9be3884e_OCcat2top2_resize.jpg.bdd408b3e2f286129d36230de475bf38.jpg602bf9bee8941_OCcat2bottom1resize.jpg.5c866f2a0047012f1da0aff38b5a9330.jpg

 

Tooth 3. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bfb9eb7d16_OCcat3top2resize.thumb.jpg.2651034a9448089dd6add237bd1ac6be.jpg602bfad417d3f_OCcat3bottom2resize.thumb.jpg.9c9c1bb401af9cca5074e20092287ba4.jpg

 

Tooth 4. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bfcc449306_OCcat4topResize.jpg.0928bbf8a9ddc3885e798bf5e5b1ffc8.jpg602bfcc3aa231_OCcat4bottomresize.thumb.jpg.90c88f9577a0c2bcc897fcc159e27870.jpg

 

Tooth 5. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bfcc2acf17_OCcat5topresize.thumb.jpg.ca114bf8d5f99ffc9aebd85adfc40841.jpg602bfcc177dc9_OCcat5bottomresize.thumb.jpg.e3c75a5fda2ca868109fb1d0ffd6b450.jpg

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We have some Scyliorhinidae teeth at the Miocene Montbrook site. We suspect some of the marine fossils (shark & ray teeth) may be coming from the underlying Eocene Ocala Limestone and these have not been well studied yet so we are just at the beginning in terms of taxonomy and age. Scale 0.5 mm:

2020-08-23 17-12-47.jpg

composite.jpg

 

Here's one fresh from the picking plate:

2021_0214_115905_002.jpg2021_0214_115916_003.jpg

 

I've also found some nice ones in Cookiecutter Creek:

 

Figure 7(D-E) 3.pngFigure 7(D-E) 2.pngFigure 7(D-E) 1.png

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

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1 hour ago, digit said:

We have some Scyliorhinidae teeth at the Miocene Montbrook site. We suspect some of the marine fossils (shark & ray teeth) may be coming from the underlying Eocene Ocala Limestone and these have not been well studied yet so we are just at the beginning in terms of taxonomy and age. Scale 0.5 mm:

2020-08-23 17-12-47.jpg

composite.jpg

 

Here's one fresh from the picking plate:

2021_0214_115905_002.jpg2021_0214_115916_003.jpg

 

I've also found some nice ones in Cookiecutter Creek:

 

Figure 7(D-E) 3.pngFigure 7(D-E) 2.pngFigure 7(D-E) 1.png

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

Hi Ken 

 

Those are nice Catshark teeth. Nice colors. I am glad you posted the Cookiecutter Creek examples. I found one but I promptly lost it lol Thanks for sharing !!! 

 

Kurt

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7 hours ago, sharkdoctor said:

Interesting thread! Below are a variety of cat shark teeth from the Oligocene Old Church Formation of Virginia. The only thorough manuscript on the sharks from this formation does not include any catsharks. Per Dente's thread, I've relegated them to Pachyscylium, but have no confidence in that ID for all of them, as there is significant variation in form. However, they are cute!

 

Tooth 1. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bf7764422e_OCcat1_resizelingual.thumb.jpg.b385e38524c10f5f7c776c0a04f2d5b3.jpg602bf7772ab5b_OCcat1_resizelabial.thumb.jpg.353048ccf379bd8c61ea2a5e5ed8037f.jpg

 

Tooth 2. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bf9be3884e_OCcat2top2_resize.jpg.bdd408b3e2f286129d36230de475bf38.jpg602bf9bee8941_OCcat2bottom1resize.jpg.5c866f2a0047012f1da0aff38b5a9330.jpg

 

Tooth 3. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bfb9eb7d16_OCcat3top2resize.thumb.jpg.2651034a9448089dd6add237bd1ac6be.jpg602bfad417d3f_OCcat3bottom2resize.thumb.jpg.9c9c1bb401af9cca5074e20092287ba4.jpg

 

Tooth 4. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bfcc449306_OCcat4topResize.jpg.0928bbf8a9ddc3885e798bf5e5b1ffc8.jpg602bfcc3aa231_OCcat4bottomresize.thumb.jpg.90c88f9577a0c2bcc897fcc159e27870.jpg

 

Tooth 5. Pachyscyllium sp. scale box=5mm

602bfcc2acf17_OCcat5topresize.thumb.jpg.ca114bf8d5f99ffc9aebd85adfc40841.jpg602bfcc177dc9_OCcat5bottomresize.thumb.jpg.e3c75a5fda2ca868109fb1d0ffd6b450.jpg

Great specimens. Pachyscyllium seems to fit but I’m far from qualified to give ID’s lol 

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Adding this to my list above. From the Oligocene Old Church Formation.

 

Tooth 6. Unknown catshark. scale box=5mm

602d40d1b26fe_OCcat6top.thumb.jpg.c6eaadc44c315c6f571425e9356a86fd.jpg602d40d2d2235_OCcat6bottom.thumb.jpg.2eed54bd6d9d3a5658ef2f17ab43e85c.jpg

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5 hours ago, sharkdoctor said:

 

Adding this to my list above. From the Oligocene Old Church Formation.

 

Tooth 6. Unknown catshark. scale box=5mm

602d40d1b26fe_OCcat6top.thumb.jpg.c6eaadc44c315c6f571425e9356a86fd.jpg602d40d2d2235_OCcat6bottom.thumb.jpg.2eed54bd6d9d3a5658ef2f17ab43e85c.jpg

Have you found any Odontaspis from the Old Church Formation? I’m guessing this is a posterior Odontaspis, or possibly some other lamniformes.

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Yeah, cat sharks frequent deepwater habitats and it seems they always have because they are uncommon across their history.  You can have a nice supply of STH concentrate and not find one.  I have exactly one cat shark and one swell shark tooth from my own picking.  I don't have a set-up to shoot them.  I'm afraid of looking at them because I might lose them in the carpet like I did with an Eocene guitarfish once.

 

Jess

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11 minutes ago, siteseer said:

I don't have a set-up to shoot them.  I'm afraid of looking at them because I might lose them in the carpet like I did with an Eocene guitarfish once.

Ouch!

 

I lost a rare species (possibly catshark) while picking Cookiecutter Creek matrix in my office. I don't remember how it jumped off my desk onto the floor--likely while I was putting it into a gelcap and it took flight and went airborne. It was basically the size of a sesame seed and I thought I'd lost it forever. Luckily, my office was NOT carpeted and I backed up slowly and grabbed a broom and dustpan. I carefully swept the entire are and, with fingers crossed, went through the sweepings. Miraculously, I recovered the tooth. Would have been out of luck if it had been shag carpeted. :oO:

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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Hi Ken,

 

Yeah, the guitarfish tooth did seem to jump and just disappeared into the background of the carpet.  I crisscrossed the carpet and widened the search area with a magnifier but never found it.  It's the only micro I have lost (a couple of other teeth have escaped me but they were recovered). 

 

Jess

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44 minutes ago, siteseer said:

Yeah, the guitarfish tooth did seem to jump

Frisky after all those millennium. :) I've been "bitten" by fossil shark teeth while digging at the Montbrook site. Just last week I pulled a Carcharhinus sp. tooth out of my finger while digging in the matrix. :oO:

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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6 hours ago, Al Dente said:

Have you found any Odontaspis from the Old Church Formation? I’m guessing this is a posterior Odontaspis, or possibly some other lamniformes.

@Al Dente No Odontaspis in the Old Church as far as I can tell. I see what you mean, with the large root mass. I have many examples from the Piscataway and other earlier exposures. None have the number of cusps or the flaired apron underlying the cusps. In all cases, I remain open to the possibility and am seeking references to confirm. I am also bothered by the well preserved pores in the root.

 

BTW, my poor photography hides the deep curvature of the root. I'm working on getting better at z stacks :) I aspire to your catshark thread above!

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Scyliorhinus sp 

Miocene

Calvert Formation, bed 3b

New Kent County, Virginia

Scale box = 5mm

 

Tooth 1:

602dfdb791452_LingualCalvertScyliorhinid1.thumb.jpg.38138f060663cea65c4e16c9bea741ba.jpg602dfdb44536e_LabialCalvertScyliorhinid1.thumb.jpg.b94c8a860e209ba3116bb499c26ce7ad.jpg

 

Tooth 2:

602dfdaf06404_LingualCalvertScyliorhinid2.thumb.jpg.9098f6a7d74d3725369e0950facfacad.jpg602dfdb5ea949_LabialCalvertScyliorhinid2.thumb.jpg.7b9b2753e0ccd427af496df7197d4bca.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Scyliorhinus entomodon 

Eocene

Muddy Creek

Nanjemoy Formation 

Virginia

 

Finally got around to photographing some Catshark teeth. I love the blue color on this one and a classic Eocene location. 

D52765E0-80C1-4594-B4EF-3BFFEBF2217D.jpeg

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Scyliorhinus entomodon 

Paleocene

Phosphate Beds

Ben Idir, Morocco

 

These two teeth were hard to photograph as they are really white. The light reflects off them very brightly. I don’t have many teeth from this particular location in Morocco. 

27B46E75-E4E3-42AF-A944-B07E53411237.jpeg

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Pretty teeth. I am always surprised by fossilized shark teeth that are so white they look like they could have dropped out of the shark yesterday. :) You could try photographing these on a sheet of white paper. The exposure control should then pull down the brightness and reveal more detail. What are the size on these two lovelies?

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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3 hours ago, digit said:

Pretty teeth. I am always surprised by fossilized shark teeth that are so white they look like they could have dropped out of the shark yesterday. :) You could try photographing these on a sheet of white paper. The exposure control should then pull down the brightness and reveal more detail. What are the size on these two lovelies?

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Hi Ken 

 

I tried white paper and that didn’t work any better. The micro eye only has one light source and you can’t alter the angle of the lens either so it is a limited tool. 

They are both around 2mm. 

 

Kurt

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