JohnJ Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 My wife and I drove back over to Whiskey Bridge @ the Brazos River. We were prepared this time with a couple of 5 gallon buckets. I was careful about what went into them, because it is quite a hike when you have to carry them and your tools from the river bottom up a large bank to your vehicle. 100 degrees F later, it was worth it; here's a small sample... Anyone want to take a shot at the jaw ID (Eocene - Cook Mountain)???? The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 It would be cool if we could temporarily rig up a winch and boom arm on the bridge to move those buckets more easily to road level......... Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoRon Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 The "jaw" fragment looks like it may be a piece of sting ray spine. Another Eocene fossil that I find that looks sort of jaw-like is a type of fish fin spine that has a double row of small projections along its length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Dang John, you are cleaning up on the teeth. You must be closer to there than me to make so many trips over there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 The beauty of that site is that it will continue to support bus loads of people and in fact is visited by most of the big clubs in TX at least once a year in addition to several universities and countless individual collectors. Intense surface collecting won't compromise your bulk sampling prospects. It is soft enough to dig without massive hand tools, yet difficult enough to wear you out before you make too big of a hole. This is one of the classic Texas sites that will produce for generations. In fact I would expect it to outlast some of the other classic TX venues like the NSR (damming in the planning stages), Lake Texoma (doesn't really weather as fast as it is hunted, big Eopachydiscus harder to come by each year, but the area will still produce for decades), and Waco Pit (becoming overgrown, collecting would REALLY benefit from a controlled burn). Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 Dang John, you are cleaning up on the teeth. You must be closer to there than me to make so many trips over there. Mike, it was your trip photos that inspired my recent visits. In the past, my wife and I had put in at the bridge to do some paddling; but our focus was not on fossils at the time. Needless to say, I'll be fossil hunting on the back porch when I get the urge...I still have about a bucket and a half of matrix left! What treasures await? The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 The "jaw" fragment looks like it may be a piece of sting ray spine. Another Eocene fossil that I find that looks sort of jaw-like is a type of fish fin spine that has a double row of small projections along its length. Here are some different views. The flare on the end inclined me to think of a jaw frag, but you may be right about a stingray spine. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Those look more to me like teeth in sockets than barbs on a spine. "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...
PaleoRon Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Here are some different views. The flare on the end inclined me to think of a jaw frag, but you may be right about a stingray spine. From that angle it does not look like a sting ray spine. I have never seen a spine that flared like that. I have a couple of Eocene fish reference books but I didn't see anything like that illustrated. All of the teeth shown have a circular cross section and either come to a point or are dome shaped. Cool find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 ...I have a couple of Eocene fish reference books but I didn't see anything like that illustrated. All of the teeth shown have a circular cross section and either come to a point or are dome shaped. Cool find. So what's that leave, reptile or mammal? I note that some of the teeth are cusped, and that all are compressed proxo-distally rather than laterally. They also seem to have rather shallow roots. A grade-A mystery. "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...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Kewltootheus jacksonorum (-orum used because you were collecting with your wife, would have been -i if you were solo gigging) Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted August 13, 2008 Author Share Posted August 13, 2008 Kewltootheus jacksonorum (-orum used because you were collecting with your wife, would have been -i if you were solo gigging) Mmmm...holotype...Oh! Sorry, my wife just pinched me. (Images in cloud, above my head disappear.) Seriously, I'm sure we have some middle Eocene marine experts that could point me in the right direction. This is the best my camera will do on the "roots". The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 Your photos are just perfect; crisp, bright, and high contrast. If someone can't ID it based on them, you should be thinking holotype... "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...
MikeD Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 John, I sent your pictures to a paleontologist friend who forwarded them on to a guy at the Houston Museum of Natural Science who is doing an extensive study on the Stone City Vertebrate fossils. He says: Hi Mike, thanks so much for the photos, they are very cool. You have a nice collection of shark teeth there as well. The specimen in question is very nice. It is either a catfish pectoral spine or a stingray tail spine; both have the serrated edge on the blade and are pretty close in resemblance. In order to tell which one is which a whole one helps. I’m leaning more toward the stingray spine as the serrations are rather large. The catfish spines I’ve collected sometimes have small serrations or no serrations at all. I attached a stingray spine photo that is more or less complete. Thanks again for the great pics! Chris Flis Site Manager HMNS Xploration Station Houston Museum of Natural Science Then he adds in another email: I thought more about your spine in question and am leaning more toward the catfish again. The serrations are very large and the shaft is very similar to those of the marine catfish. This species is Ameiurus sp. He also says about our fossil rat turds (which I sent him a picture of): Hey Mike, the round objects that are shiny black on the inside are the phosphate pellets. The round one on the left though could be a fish coprolite (fossil dung) from fish. Unfortunately there are so many phosphate pellets they can be easily confused with coprolites… I do see a lot of the fish coprolites with the bone like texture, not shiny black, on the outside. He also said that he likes to identify Stone City fossils and would be glad to help anytime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Hey Johnny Next time you come to my place we can zoom in on the "roots" with my microscope iffin you want..... Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted August 15, 2008 Author Share Posted August 15, 2008 He also said that he likes to identify Stone City fossils and would be glad to help anytime. Wow! You don't know how much I appreciate that, Mike. The spines on a catfish...it would have been awhile before I started looking that direction. That's the closest match I've seen. Please thank all those on the information trail. He sounds like he could be a great resource. Thanks again. Dan, Sounds like a good idea. Thanks. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 The spines on a catfish...it would have been awhile before I started looking that direction. I never would have thought of that either. If you do find the "roots" on Dan's microscope, I want to see a picture. He also identified some of the stuff from my picture, too. I have some gar teeth, barracuda teeth, and a strange looking round fish tooth that at first glance looks like a tiny vert. He will definitely be a valuable resource in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 John I have a big spine from a ray I caught that I keep in my desk as a letter opener. Next time I go to the coast I'll extricate a hardhead or gafftop pectoral and/or dorsal spine, then we can look at both for anatomical comparison. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oh-Man Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 Dan, Wish I had know last weekend when we had a 3 lb gafftop in the boat... I could have mailed it to you. Instead I brought back some big scales from the big black drum I caught. Good info from Mike - we just got back from the DPS trip and are beat. Owen What is geology? "Rocks for Jocks!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 Hey Owen Didn't know you were a saltwater fiend like me. I still haven't caught one of those 50 inch black drum. Feb-April at Ingleside would probably present my best shot. I plan to take the boy to the coast as soon as the conditions are good for a small boat. We'll pitch some live shrimp in the channels and at pilings and see if we can boat some puppy drum, sheepshead, etc. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 TUBE BAITS!!! I forget the brand but they're brown tube baits everything eats them like crazy caught a 40" red on one wooo hooo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cris Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 TUBE BAITS!!! I forget the brand but they're brown tube baits everything eats them like crazy caught a 40" red on one wooo hooo! Also caught a 24 inch trout off of one and almosttt a 6 foot tarpon Only thing that outfishes those are those Gulp things...When they say they outfish live bait, theyyyy are not even joking. (And Anson, those were just Zoom tube baits for bass fishing that we had left over. Wooohooo, it's about time to go get 'em again) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oh-Man Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 It would be cool if we could temporarily rig up a winch and boom arm on the bridge to move those buckets more easily to road level......... MikeD and I hit a few spots where we toss ropes over the edge of the bridge. Mike stays at the bottom and lashes things up while I haul things to the top. I can usually handle anything we can fill a 5-gal bucket with, but every once in a while we need to men on the rope. Then everything goes in Mike's sled and we make like oxen until we drag everything back to the car... Killing ourselves all in the name of fossil fun! What is geology? "Rocks for Jocks!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted September 6, 2008 Author Share Posted September 6, 2008 ...Killing ourselves all in the name of fossil fun! Oh-Man, you're right. I don't know how many times I've come home from an intense fossil trip and thought that all that "fun" is sometimes very hard work. But, it is a satisfying kind of "tired". The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 theat loooks like a fish jaw to me, and from what i see almost complete so this would have been a small fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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