Eocene Castle Hayne Sawfish; Pristis lathami

[sixgill pete]

OK folks, from my new found Eocene pit. Castle Hayne Formation, Comfort Member. Some sawfish, Pristis lathami verts and rostral spines. And a possible piece of dorsal spine.

 

Verts, including one huge one measuring in at 1.48 inch or 37.6 MM.

 

    

 

more verts and rostral spines; the possible piece of dorsal spine is under the row of 4 verts across the top

 

 

the longest spine measures in at 3.20 inch or 81.4 mm

 

 

 

Seen this guy still in full velvet on my way to the pit one day.

 

[FossilDAWG]

Impressive verts and rostral teeth!

That buck seems to be giving you the "stink-eye".

 

Don

[hokietech96]

Very cool finds!

[sixgill pete]

4 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Impressive verts and rostral teeth!

That buck seems to be giving you the "stink-eye".

 

Don

 

I'll be keeping my eye out for him. October is coming quickly. 

13 minutes ago, hokietech96 said:

Very cool finds!

Thanks.

There are 15 verts pictured here and I probably have 20 more smaller ones. They seem to be a common find at this site.

Edited August 20, 2021 by sixgill pete

[Al Dente]

15 hours ago, sixgill pete said:

And a possible piece of dorsal spine.

Does this piece look like normal bone on the inside? If so, I would guess it belongs to some other animal like whale or turtle. Modern Pristis don’t have hard parts on their fins. Have you found any whale bone or teeth at this site?

[sixgill pete]

Eric, looking closer at it, you may be correct. I have found chunks of bone probably whale. I do have one tooth that has been tentatively I.D.'d as archeocete by @Boesse

[Hipockets]

Can we see the archeocete tooth?

 

[sixgill pete]

44 minutes ago, Hipockets said:

Can we see the archeocete tooth?

 

i will try to post it later today.

[Boesse]

If someone passed that fossil to me and told me it was a whale rib fragment, I'd immediately believe them, for what it's worth.

[sixgill pete]

On 8/25/2021 at 9:56 PM, Boesse said:

If someone passed that fossil to me and told me it was a whale rib fragment, I'd immediately believe them, for what it's worth.

Interesting Bobby, I never would have thought rib fragment. Thanks. I have a decent amount of bone from there now and besides the possible tooth which I had sent the pics to you I have one definete fragment of a tooth and another possible.