Tooth?

[Fossil68478]

Found this in Myrtle Beach. Thought this was a rock at first, but resembled too much like a tooth. Also, I unfortunately don’t have a tape measure or scale with me.  

[jikohr]

Hi, welcome to the fossil forum!

What you have there appears to be the internal mold of a bivalve (clams, oysters, etc.). 

When a bivalve dies and is buried the inside fills with sediment, which becomes rock, and forms a mold of the inside of the shell. Then the shell (usually) dissolves leaving behind the mold.

These are often called steinkerns in the fossil world.

[Fossil68478]

22 hours ago, jikohr said:

Hi, welcome to the fossil forum!

What you have there appears to be the internal mold of a bivalve (clams, oysters, etc.). 

When a bivalve dies and is buried the inside fills with sediment, which becomes rock, and forms a mold of the inside of the shell. Then the shell (usually) dissolves leaving behind the mold.

These are often called steinkerns in the fossil world.

 

Thanks for replying to my post. I am kinda disappointed to learn it’s not an actual tooth to anything. It had every feature to make it look like a tooth. Anyways, I was wondering if you could look over the pics one last time and make sure it’s not a tooth because I haven’t seen a pic of a steinkern that closely resembles a tooth like the one I found. If you want I can get a picture of the bottom and top of the fossil for a better examination. Once again, thanks for checking out my post and informing me of my find. 

[jikohr]

16 minutes ago, Fossil68478 said:

 

Thanks for replying to my post. I am kinda disappointed to learn it’s not an actual tooth to anything. It had every feature to make it look like a tooth. Anyways, I was wondering if you could look over the pics one last time and make sure it’s not a tooth because I haven’t seen a pic of a steinkern that closely resembles a tooth like the one I found. If you want I can get a picture of the bottom and top of the fossil for a better examination. Once again, thanks for checking out my post and informing me of my find. 

Always happy to see more pics but for the time being I stand by what I said. Perhaps this will help though.

Take a close look at the hinge of this one, what I believe you have is a piece of that that broke off. So actually a piece of a large internal mold, which I should have made clear in my first response. That's on me.

 

I'm always happy to look at more pictures though. If you could get some close ups in better lighting that would help. I'd be more than happy to admit I'm wrong I just don't currently see it as anything else.

[Fin Lover]

I'm not seeing a tooth here either.  Sorry!

[Fossil68478]

21 hours ago, jikohr said:

Always happy to see more pics but for the time being I stand by what I said. Perhaps this will help though.

Take a close look at the hinge of this one, what I believe you have is a piece of that that broke off. So actually a piece of a large internal mold, which I should have made clear in my first response. That's on me.

 

I'm always happy to look at more pictures though. If you could get some close ups in better lighting that would help. I'd be more than happy to admit I'm wrong I just don't currently see it as anything else.

 

Hopefully these pictures are a little to better to look at. I think the more I look at it appears to be a piece of the hinge of the internal mold. Especially with the help of that picture. I usually only go for shark teeth, but it’s still cool to have a couple fossils in my collection. 
 

I’ve been looking through some other fossils others found on here. And it makes me a little upset realizing that I probably had that in my hand but threw it because it wasn’t a tooth. Next time head down to the beach I’ll keep more of a look out for fossils like these. And thank you for responding to post. 

[jikohr]

51 minutes ago, Fossil68478 said:

 

Hopefully these pictures are a little to better to look at. I think the more I look at it appears to be a piece of the hinge of the internal mold. Especially with the help of that picture. I usually only go for shark teeth, but it’s still cool to have a couple fossils in my collection. 
 

I’ve been looking through some other fossils others found on here. And it makes me a little upset realizing that I probably had that in my hand but threw it because it wasn’t a tooth. Next time head down to the beach I’ll keep more of a look out for fossils like these. And thank you for responding to post. 

My pleasure!

Also, yeah that's almost certainly a mold of a bivalve hinge. Big one too. 

 

I wouldn't worry to much about throwing stuff away, we've all been there. 

 

My personal rule of thumb: if you don't know what something is (and you are able to transport it) hold on to it just in case.

 

Happy hunting my friend!

[Pamela Irwin]

On 7/10/2022 at 12:32 AM, Fossil68478 said:

 

Thanks for replying to my post. I am kinda disappointed to learn it’s not an actual tooth to anything. It had every feature to make it look like a tooth. Anyways, I was wondering if you could look over the pics one last time and make sure it’s not a tooth because I haven’t seen a pic of a steinkern that closely resembles a tooth like the one I found. If you want I can get a picture of the bottom and top of the fossil for a better examination. Once again, thanks for checking out my post and informing me of my find. 

Jikohr is right on this. I’ve been staying in Myrtle for the past few months and find these all the time. I was quite excited as well the first time I found one. They really do resemble a sharks tooth tho.