Peace River Fossils -- Alligator??

[Parker Brown]

Hello everyone,

 

I was wondering if anyone can identify these for me. I believe they are all alligator but I do not know for certain.

 

Thank you! 

[jpc]

the big piece is a piece of turtle shell.  

[Harry Pristis]

Turtle nuchal bone:

 

 

 

[Meganeura]

The teeth, however, do look to be gator. 1 and 3 for sure. 2 is a possible gator.

 

[Parker Brown]

49 minutes ago, jpc said:

the big piece is a piece of turtle shell.  

Thank you!

43 minutes ago, Harry Pristis said:

Turtle nuchal bone:

 

It's a damaged

 

Thank you for the diagram. I will definitely be saving it and using it later!!

[Parker Brown]

40 minutes ago, Meganeura said:

The teeth, however, do look to be gator. 1 and 3 for sure. 2 is a possible gator.

 

That is what I thought. I was pretty sure for 1 and 3 but number 2 was stumping me a little 

[Meganeura]

1 minute ago, Parker Brown said:

That is what I thought. I was pretty sure for 1 and 3 but number 2 was stumping me a little 

Can you grab some more pics of just #2? Close ups, multiple angles. It can be in your hand, as long as the features are evident.

[Parker Brown]

5 minutes ago, Meganeura said:

Can you grab some more pics of just #2? Close ups, multiple angles. It can be in your hand, as long as the features are evident.

 

[Meganeura]

1 minute ago, Parker Brown said:

 

That's quite the interesting tooth. It's not gator - but I'm not sure what it is. Could be croc. Could be a shark tooth. Could possibly be a fish tooth, though that's less likely.

[Meganeura]

@Al Dente @hemipristis Perhaps you two might have some idea?

Edited February 14, 2023 by Meganeura

[hemipristis]

9 hours ago, Meganeura said:

@Al Dente @hemipristis Perhaps you two might have some idea?

Curious indeed.  Doesn't look like croc or gator, I can't think of a bony fish in the U.S. Neogene with  teeth that large.  Unfortunately the photos' resolution is such, that I cannot posit further.  @Parker Brown  is there any way of getting a closeup photo in good light with good resolution

[Parker Brown]

1 hour ago, hemipristis said:

Curious indeed.  Doesn't look like croc or gator, I can't think of a bony fish in the U.S. Neogene with  teeth that large.  Unfortunately the photos' resolution is such, that I cannot posit further.  @Parker Brown  is there any way of getting a closeup photo in good light with good resolution

Yes, I will get a better photo tonight when I get off work!

[Harry Pristis]

Some ideas for making effective images:

 

Do you have editing software that came with your camera or with your scanner? Use the image-editing software (or download shareware from the Internet).

You can be as creative as you want to be with the editing software, but the following basic things will improve anyone's images:

GROUP IMAGES of more than a few fossils are not effective. The more individual fossils in an image, the greater the amount of table-top is in the image. Viewers cannot see the details of a fossil that might take up less than five percent of the total image. Photograph a single fossil (or two or three, if they're tiny), and post that image.
 

DON'T OBSCURE details of the fossil by pinching it between your fingers. If you want to use fingers to provide scale, support the fossil from below ... that is, on top of your fingers. To improve the focus, rest your hand with the fossil on a stable surface like a table or desk.

 

SCALE is important.  Provide measurements of your fossil in millimeters and inches for the widest audience.  Don't use a coin for scale; there are many foreign subscribers who don't know your coin's size.

 

LIGHT IT UP. Use as much ambient light as possible to reduce shadows...two light sources are a minimum. Eliminate yellowed images caused by tungsten filament bulbs by switching to the new compact flourescent bulbs. CFLs come in a "daylight" (6500K) version that you can use in any (non-dimming) fixture and produce very little heat. Some LEDs produce a near-daylight effect.

 

ELIMINATE SHADOWS by elevating the fossil on a glass or colorless plastic stage a couple of inches above the background. Illuminate the fossil AND THE BACKGROUND in this configuration. There are numerous things around the house to use for this purpose, from scrap window-glass to disposable plastic food/drink containers.

BRIGHTEN AND CONTRAST. BRIGHTEN the image until the fossil appears slightly washed, then adjust the CONTRAST until the fossil is bright and sharp and is a good color-match. Practice this until you get a feel for it.

CROP, CROP, CROP. Again, use the image-editing software to crop the image to only what is pertinent. Leave only a narrow margin around the fossil. The more of your kitchen counter-top in the image, the smaller the fossil image will be.

REDUCE THE FILE SIZE. The images directly from a camera may be too large for posting directly to a forum, or you may be severely limited in the number of images you can post. You can constrain the proportions of your image to produce exactly the size that works best (I routinely use 700 Kb - 1.0 Mb for my images now). I save in JPEG format.

___________

[Parker Brown]

Here are some higher quality photos @hemipristis @Meganeura

[Meganeura]

Still looks fish-toothy to me.

[Harry Pristis]

Much better images of this tooth-like find.  You may be able to give the wide end a bath in straight, white vinegar to loosen the cemented sand.  The sand is probably cemented with calcite, and the vinegar will dissolve it enough to scrape off the sand.  If the object is enamel (or enameloid) and dentin, it will not be affected by an hour or two in vinegar.  But, check it from time to time.

[Parker Brown]

@Shellseeker @digit 

 

From reading the forums a lot I know that both of you have spent considerable time searching the Peace River. Do you have any idea on what this tooth is?

[Shellseeker]

8 hours ago, Parker Brown said:

@Shellseeker @digit 

 

From reading the forums a lot I know that both of you have spent considerable time searching the Peace River. Do you have any idea on what this tooth is?

We all "see" the same things.  The question is how do we interpret what we see.http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/113353-the-definition-of-carina/

In this thread,  I posted 3 teeth,  2 were obvious Alligator.  The 3rd has become my definition of Crocodile from the Peace River.. I accept the fact that it may not be crocodile.

 

Here is a blow_up of one of your later photos.

I think it looks more like my perception of Crocodile,  than any other possibility I can think of...to me , it is Croc.

[Shellseeker]

Parker,  I should have shared my technique for finding this stuff: 

Type " shellseeker croc site:www.thefossilforum.com" into a search engine. Select the images and pick the images (and TFF threads) you want to read.

 

[Parker Brown]

10 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Parker,  I should have shared my technique for finding this stuff: 

Type " shellseeker croc site:www.thefossilforum.com" into a search engine. Select the images and pick the images (and TFF threads) you want to read.

 

Thank you! I think that I will call it a Croc tooth unless something comes along and changes that!