Swimming with the the mega-toothed sharks of NJ

[steviefossils]

Hello everyone. I'm making my rounds across my different groups and forums, so if anyone has seen these photos before you'll have to suffer through them again.

 

From June through the end of August I locked in on a concentrated area of sand tigers, makos, and my favorite mega-tooth shark: Otodus auriculatus. I didn't find one every trip out, but my most plentiful day gifted me 3, and my last trip out provided me with the largest tooth I have ever recovered from the garden state. I battled minuscule mosquitoes and a horsefly that was every bit horse as it was fly. Despite nature's best attempts to discourage me I persevered and wound up with 10 Otodus auriculatus teeth, a few decent makos, one whole and one half O. chubutensis, and a particularly nice cetacean tympanic bulla (ear bone). For anyone new to collecting there is disagreement over whether to classify the genus as otodus vs. carcharocles, but whether you go by O. auriculatus vs. C. auriculatus, we are discussing the same species. I enjoy collecting them not only due to their size, but because of the wide variation in shape, as well as their wicked serrations. You will find a picture of my rics down below.

 

Additionally you will see a picture of a cetacean inner ear bone, either a whale or dolphin (as an aside dolphins are whales! but I digress). From my reading, there is no correlation between the size of a cetacean ear bone and the size of the animal it came from, still, my one and only mammal fossil that I am proud to have found. These finds are the culmination of many hours out in the field, and many more reading papers, talking with my friend, and my back begs me to reiterate, many, many hours in the field.

 

While better quality and larger teeth have been found (many by my friend) they've given me hope that I may be able to find some exceptional pieces in the future.

 

I've included a close-up of my larger ric as it shows its color with greater accuracy. The smallest ric is the most well preserved of the group, as smaller teeth often are.

 

Thanks for viewing,

Steve

Edited September 15, 2022 by steviefossils

[Jeffrey P]

That big ric is an exceptional shark tooth for New Jersey. Big congrats and thanks for sharing. 

[Ludwigia]

6 hours ago, steviefossils said:

many hours in the field.

 

Does that mean you found them on dry land or were you sifting in a stream or river?

[Meganeura]

That's a very pretty Auriculatus! Also love the cetacean ear bone - it's great quality too. I assume much rarer than the ones here in Florida?

[mr.cheese]

Some very nice teeth there, well done and thank you for sharing them

[steviefossils]

6 hours ago, Meganeura said:

That's a very pretty Auriculatus! Also love the cetacean ear bone - it's great quality too. I assume much rarer than the ones here in Florida?

I don't know how common they are in Florida, but I know they aren't particularly common up here. I'm sure more have been found, but I think I've seen less than 10 from NJ, and that includes the one I found. 

[Meganeura]

2 minutes ago, steviefossils said:

I don't know how common they are in Florida, but I know they aren't particularly common up here. I'm sure more have been found, but I think I've seen less than 10 from NJ, and that includes the one I found. 

Well, I've got a mix of about 20 periotic and tympanic bullas if that tells you anything - and I've only been hunting since April!

[steviefossils]

3 minutes ago, Meganeura said:

Well, I've got a mix of about 20 periotic and tympanic bullas if that tells you anything - and I've only been hunting since April!

Wow! I've been hunting the NJ miocene in earnest now for close to a year. Though I maybe get out twice a month. A friend of mine hunts a few times a week, putting in lots of hours, and he's only found one or two. So then yes, I'd definitely say it's much more rare up here!

[Meganeura]

1 minute ago, steviefossils said:

Wow! I've been hunting the NJ miocene in earnest now for close to a year. Though I maybe get out twice a month. A friend of mine hunts a few times a week, putting in lots of hours, and he's only found one or two. So then yes, I'd definitely say it's much more rare up here!

See that just makes it a much, much cooler find then, especially that good a condition! Congrats on the finds!

[njcreekhunter]

@steviefossils Here are some more cetacean ear bones I found in New Jersey for comparison. These are a mix of bulla and periotic bones.

[steviefossils]

Thank you for sharing! How long did it take you to find those?

[njcreekhunter]

1 hour ago, steviefossils said:

Thank you for sharing! How long did it take you to find those?

These took many years to find. I found more broken ones, but these are my better ones. 

[steviefossils]

11 hours ago, sharktoothboy said:

These took many years to find. I found more broken ones, but these are my better ones. 

Well, very nice. Thank you for sharing