EPIKLULSXDDDDD Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 So a couple of weeks ago, I, along with my younger brother, decided to embark on our first field trip with the Dallas Paleontological Society. The destination was Moss Creek, a decently sized waterway on private property that feeds into the NSR. Just like in the main river, we were seeking a red layer exposure of the Ozan Fm (though I read that this red layer is different from the one at the river). This site is famous for its abundance of marine microfossils, namely shark/fish teeth. One of the people on the trip was a researcher (Shawn Hamm) who is currently finishing up a paper on this very site. I hope to read it once it's published! Anyways, the day was miserably hot as expected, but the scenery and air of discovery made up for it. My brother and I took a more secluded route, traveling downstream whereas most headed upstream. After a bit of searching, I came across a part of the creek bed that was red and, upon close inspection, was filled with tiny black phosphatic fossils. Because the matrix of the layer is so sticky, we couldn't really sift through it at the site. Instead, we, like everyone else, filled up a bucket and took it back to our car. It was a fun day and I met a lot of interesting people. One member told me to use baking soda to break up the matrix and that advice worked like a charm! I'm not sure about a lot of these IDs so feel free to correct me. If you know any species names feel free to drop those too . Here are the pictures of the highlight finds. Sorry the quality is bad... taking pictures of things this small was more difficult than expected: Fishes Lots of Enchodus Fangs and Jaw Sections Lots of Hadrodus Teeth Pachyrhizodus? Teeth Protosphyraena? Teeth. Really not 100% on this ID Pycnodont Teeth Fish Neural Spine. 2nd photo is compared to an X-Fish neural spine I found in Austin. Love the size discrepancy of the two. Fish Verts (Left) and Shark Vert (Right) Sharks Hybodont Shark Tooth. This is one of my favorites. Looks like Lonchidion? but that's just my guess. Lots of Pseudocorax Teeth Lots of un-ID Shark Teeth. Distinguishing between Scapanorhynchus, Carcharias, etc. is way above my pay grade . Trust me, I tried... Cretalamna appendiculata Tooth. By far the biggest tooth. Protolamna? Teeth Squalicorax Teeth. For some reason they all came out broken. Unidentified Tooth. Pathological? The crown is just a flat edge. Shark Coprolite? It's ringed like the ones I've seen online. Sawfish Ischyrhiza Oral Teeth Ischyrhiza? Rostral Teeth Ptychotrygon? Oral Teeth Cantioscyllium? Oral Teeth Misc./Enigmatic Finds Brittle Star Parts? Part of an Urchin? It's rounded and the center has a protrusion for where a spine once was. Kinda looks like a denticle, but may be some weird tooth? Bivalves If you would like any additional pics, let me know. Thanks for reading! 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites
Al Dente Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 Looks like a great layer to collect. The two teeth I’ve circled look to be lateral Heterodontus teeth. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Al Dente Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 The one in the middle might be Ischyrhiza but all the barbed ones are Sclerorhynchus. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Al Dente Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 The two circled in red are prismatic cartilage from a shark or ray. The other circled ones are crustacean shell. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites
deutscheben Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 Those are neat little fossils, what a great variety. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
MarcoSr Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 Really nice group of micro specimens. I agree with Eric's IDs above. The below picture has a Squatina tooth circled in red. Marco Sr. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
EPIKLULSXDDDDD Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 @MarcoSr Ooo nice catch. It looked a little strange but I thought nothing of it! @Al Dente Thanks for the many IDs. Shark cartilage is a neat one I did not expect! Also nice to add a few genus names that I was not aware of. Link to post Share on other sites
MarcoSr Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 I forgot to comment on the vertebrae. The left looks like it is a mixture of bony fish and shark or ray vertebrae. The circled blue look like bony fish vertebrae, and the circled red look like shark or ray vertebrae. The vertebra on the right could be from a ray. Marco Sr. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
ThePhysicist Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 Oh wow, these are awesome! I especially like the Pseudocorax and Heterodontus teeth. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
fossilsonwheels Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 I would add that I think you’re correct on Cantioscyllium as the ID but not a sawfish. It’s an Orectolobiformes shark. The Heterodontus and Squatina are great finds. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Coco Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 10 hours ago, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said: Kinda looks like a denticle, but may be some weird tooth? Looks a lot like a symphysar hexanchidae tooth despite the small size of the photos. Coco 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Al Dente Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 I'm wondering if this could be a juvenile Heterodontus anterior tooth. Here are two Cretaceous ones from the Peedee Formation to compare with. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
ClearLake Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 Great thread! I was on the same trip a couple weeks before you went and have been working my way through a bunch of the matrix but was away from home for over a month so not able to post anything. You were much quicker at getting things ID'd and photographed, great job! You have a couple of ID's that I did not so that is very helpful. I have been calling the teeth in the lower left of this picture the pycnodont Anomoeodus, hopefully that is correct. On 6/30/2022 at 5:51 PM, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said: Pycnodont Teeth On 6/30/2022 at 5:51 PM, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said: Squalicorax Teeth. For some reason they all came out broken I found the exact same thing! For such a relatively robust looking tooth, why are they all broken? I think I found one complete one but lots of fragments as opposed to all the other shark types that were more often complete (or nearly so) than broken. Strange. On 6/30/2022 at 5:51 PM, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said: Bivalves There are lots of bivalve fragments in the matrix (mostly oysters it seems), but I believe what you pictured are brachiopods. I have not really researched them yet, but that is what they look like based on their symmetry. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
EPIKLULSXDDDDD Posted July 2 Author Share Posted July 2 (edited) @ClearLake Cool that you went to the same site! I'll go with anomoeodus too since I don't have much basis for anything else lol. The squalicoraxes were strange. I thought I was being too rough with the matrix at first, but breaking it down more gently seemed to change nothing. The bivalve ID I just got from some other FF post on microfossils from the Mooreville Chalk. They looked similar enough to the ones I had so I went with it! Be sure to post your micro finds when you're all done. I would love to see what you got. Edited July 2 by EPIKLULSXDDDDD 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Coco Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 Hi, We need much closer pictures. Coco Link to post Share on other sites
EPIKLULSXDDDDD Posted July 2 Author Share Posted July 2 Sorry for the delay! I tried taking some more pics through a magnifying glass. Sorry they are a bit blurry! Link to post Share on other sites
Ironhead42 Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 Hey there! I was on that same trip! Unfortunately, I had a family emergency to deal with so I haven't been able to go through any of the matrix I took home yet. What is the baking soda trick you used? Have a good one! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
EPIKLULSXDDDDD Posted July 18 Author Share Posted July 18 @Ironhead42 Hey, nice to see someone from the trip on here! Hope things are ok for you in regards to the emergency! Prior to any soaking, I let my matrix completely dry in the summer sun (important step in my opinion). I found that just using only water wasn't effective for breaking down my matrix. Instead, I filled a large bucket with hot water and mixed in about a cup of baking soda for every gallon of water (thankfully baking soda is pretty cheap). When you then add your matrix, it will fizz and bubble as it breaks apart. I generally let mine sit in the baking soda/water for about 12 hours with occasional stirring just to mix things around a bit. After it's soaked, you will see a pile of slimy mud at the bottom of the bucket. I hosed down this mud through my sieve in order to catch all the fossils, gravel, etc. Sometimes larger, harder bits of matrix may not break down on the first go. You can try drying, soaking, and sieving them again and they may break down more though no guarantees. Hope this helps! Also, consider posting your finds when you're done. I'd love to see what sort of things you find! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Ironhead42 Posted July 26 Share Posted July 26 Ran a small batch and posted a few pictures. I had the same experience with all squalicorax teeth being broken. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
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