dirtdauber Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Collected this partial sawfish rostrum in mid-February and finally completed prepping and stabilizing it yesterday. It is 22 inches long and in great shape for cartilage, although somewhat deformed. There are 6 rostrals still attached to the rostrum and 4 more which were in the matrix near the front end, but were not attached. A nice suprise since I had not ever found even a single rostral in this location. Ischyrhiza mira Leidy; Ripley Formation, Selma Group, Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian); Lowndes County, AL. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinodigger Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 DUDE. This rocks. Love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-remanié Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 (edited) fricking awesome. that is extremely special!! you have my vote for FoTY already. this might be the most complete specimen known... Edited March 24, 2011 by toothpuller ---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwin Ahoy Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Seriously. Even the color on those rostrals. Just one of those rostrals complete would be an excellent find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreekCrawler Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 What a great find !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Wow... throw that into the fossil of the month competition and I'll be inspired to wait til next month to enter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Stunning find! I've never even heard of an articulated specimen. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I've seen Onchopristis and Schizorhiza rostral sections before but I don't think I've ever seen an Ischyrhiza specimen from anywhere. It's in nice shape too. That could be Fossil of the Year. Collected this partial sawfish rostrum in mid-February and finally completed prepping and stabilizing it yesterday. It is 22 inches long and in great shape for cartilage, although somewhat deformed. There are 6 rostrals still attached to the rostrum and 4 more which were in the matrix near the front end, but were not attached. A nice suprise since I had not ever found even a single rostral in this location. Ischyrhiza mira Leidy; Ripley Formation, Selma Group, Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian); Lowndes County, AL. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Fossil Hound Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Absolutely amazing find! I have never seen anything like it. How fragile is it? Tell us more about how it was found and extracted. "Silence is Golden, but duct tape is Silver." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickNC Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Wow. Amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear-dog Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Wonderful find.Congrats. :jig: Not to be the bearer of bad news,they are larger.The Bob Campbell Geology Museum at Clemson has 1 larger only missing the end .That's not to rain on your parade just ment to inform. As far as your find,high five. :Thumbs Up: Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svillej Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Awesome find !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foshunter Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Now that's a once in a life time double serious find, that is awsome, made my day--Tom Grow Old Kicking And Screaming !!"Don't Tread On Me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilsofnj Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Amazing!!! Please tell us more. Being cartilage it must be fragile; I for one would be most interested in hearing the whole story. I can’t imagine you just picked it up and dragged it home. John It's good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling. - Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Amazing find! What went through your head when you found that? Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squali Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Talk about Amazing. Great Find and Prep Job. I've collected several rostrum teeth but never imagined that they were not perpendicular to the bill. However I can see the advantage of having the 'teeth' angled back to the mouth. WOW It's hard to remember why you drained the swamp when your surrounded by alligators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwin Ahoy Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Talk about Amazing. Great Find and Prep Job. I've collected several rostrum teeth but never imagined that they were not perpendicular to the bill. However I can see the advantage of having the 'teeth' angled back to the mouth. WOW I believe that's simply how they ended up as it fossilized. The rostrals on the distal portion are facing the other way, even. The root was probably held perpendicular to the rostrum, though the cusps themselves can be angled backwards. I'm not 100% on that, but I think they angle back more strongly as you get closer to the animal itself, and I know there are quite a few voices that are apparently considering I. avonicola (sp?) as simply being posterior rostrals to I. mira. Unfortunate, since I just found an 'avonicola'! Oh well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Absolutely fantastic find!! Really looks like it was a lot of work to get that out and prepped without it falling to pieces on you. One of the neatest fossils I have seen from our state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Oh my.... "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 A truly outstanding fossil and well prepared. Congratulations. JKFoam The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Very Nice .... Great find... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtdauber Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 Absolutely amazing find! I have never seen anything like it. How fragile is it? Tell us more about how it was found and extracted. I really appreciate all of the comments and will tell the story here. You've heard the old saying "Even a blind hog will find an acorn now and then." Well, that applies here. This fossil was not exposed on the surface and finding it was pure luck. I had walked as far up the creek as I had planned for the day when I spotted a small piece of lignitic wood exposed in the shale bottom. Didn't have any digging equipment with me, so I used my small pocketknife to expose the wood. The soft, clayey shale dug easily and the wood went from the surface to about 4" deep as I moved away from the visible part. About 6 feet away from where I started, I flicked my blade and had an "arrgh!" moment. Heard a click and saw 2 broken teeth in the matrix! That's when I got excited and became careful. Thought I'd found a mosasaur jaw since I once found several mosasaur vertebrae within 100 feet of that spot. Anyway, I quickly realized that I needed tools. It was about mid-day and my truck was about a mile away, so I headed back, picking up some crab nodules that I had collected earlier. Hadn't really planned on finding anything important, so didn't have plaster to do a proper job of jacketing and didn't know what I had yet. Loaded up what I had available (aluminum foil, a larger knife, superglue, and a firstaid kit with gauze and cloth bandages) and hurried back. Turned out that the rostrum was only about 2" below the surface, laying just above the piece of very poorly preserved wood. The front part of the rostrum was fairly hard, while the back part (toward the skull) was very soft. The fossil and matrix was wet and water seeped into the hole as I dug since the area was only 3-4" above water level. Anyway, I dug a small trench around the fossil, applied superglue in cracks, wrapped it tightly with foil, and flipped it over. I did some damage to the soft back part, but applied more superglue, wrapped more foil, and tightly wrapped the whole thing with gauze and bandages for the trip home. Looked like a large ham! Took me about 4 hours to expose and collect it. Got it home and let it dry for a couple of days before working on it. Did a lot of prep work with dental tools and Exacto knife while it was moist and then used my airscribe and air abrader to complete the work. Not a great prep job (my sand blaster works fitfully), finally quit when I begin knocking off tiny pices of fossil. Fairly hard when dry, but very brittle and full of cracks. Stablized with Paleobond (paraloid B-72). A couple of pics insitu before jacketing. Thanks again for comments. George 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtdauber Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 I believe that's simply how they ended up as it fossilized. The rostrals on the distal portion are facing the other way, even. The root was probably held perpendicular to the rostrum, though the cusps themselves can be angled backwards. I'm not 100% on that, but I think they angle back more strongly as you get closer to the animal itself, and I know there are quite a few voices that are apparently considering I. avonicola (sp?) as simply being posterior rostrals to I. mira. Unfortunate, since I just found an 'avonicola'! Oh well I agree that the rostrals were probably somewhat perpendicular to the rostrum before fossilization. Both the rostrals and rostrum appear to have been twisted. In fact, the rostrum appears to have been broken about 8" from the front end. I inadvertently broke the 2 front rostrals before I saw them, but was able to place them in their original positions and orientation. The light colored material on their roots was applied to strengthen them. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtdauber Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 Absolutely fantastic find!! Really looks like it was a lot of work to get that out and prepped without it falling to pieces on you. One of the neatest fossils I have seen from our state. Del, This was the "mosasaur jaw" that I alluded to in an earlier post, before I started prepping. Thanks. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 (edited) Del, This was the "mosasaur jaw" that I alluded to in an earlier post, before I started prepping. Thanks. George Great story to go along with the find. Matrix, preservation all look exactly like the stuff below the Heflin Dam. I have found some of those rostrum teeth as individuals in Hale County (Many over in Mississippi). Never even imagines finding the rostrum itself. Now my dreams will be running amuck. PS. When I found my Xaphictnus jaw, I too thought I had a mos jaw until I had uncovered enough to see it wasn't. Edited March 24, 2011 by N.AL.hunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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