Shark Tooth Hill Hunt - 4 Days In The Quarry!

[Texas Fossil Hound]

In October, Kevin Anderson and Jim Poepsel flew out to Bakersfield to hunt 4 days in the Sharktooth Hill Ernst Quarries with the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History (BVMNH). This was a good idea!

The staff and families of the BVMNH and the volunteers and fossil enthusiasts there were very friendly and hospitable. We had the good fortune to hunt in the East, West and Slow Curve Quarries as well as visit the Tohill land. Kevin, Jim and I are working on a presentation to the Dallas Paleological Society on our hunt, but here are a few of the over 800 teeth I recovered.

Stingray tail barb from Slow Curve

Allodesmus (Seal) Canine from Slow Curve (note how red it is!)

Puffer fish mouth plate (Slow Curve)

Oplegnathid Mouth plate - has round Molar teeth on the opposite side (very interesting!)

More on next post...

[Texas Fossil Hound]

More pics...

Back of Oplegnathid Mouth plate

Dolphin teeth

Bony Fish vertebra with Dogfish Shark tooth attached in Matrix

[Texas Fossil Hound]

More...

Pile-O-Makos!!

Nice colored rainbow Mako

Set of Hemis - most are chipped, but they are my first ever!

[Texas Fossil Hound]

well since you asked, here are some more...

a Tiny Tope Shark Tooth

A set of Basking Shark teeth

Dasyatis Ray teeth

[Texas Fossil Hound]

Okay, just a few more - if you insist...

A almost complete Six-Gill (Hexanchus andersoni) - pure white!

A complete Vertebre with an almost full Process - Allodesmus I think. Any opinions?

Whale tail Vert

Primitive Dolphin Tooth (Squalodon)

[Texas Fossil Hound]

And the best for last....

This is an Echinorhinus blakei tooth. This is an extremely hard to find tooth from the Sharktooth Hill area according to Elasom.com. It further states that in 20 years of hunting the Sharktooth Hill bonebed an average of 300 days per year, Robert Ernst has found 2-3.

(Worthy of nomination for FOM?)

The boys in their natural habitat.

Happy hunting!

Jon

Edited December 4, 2013 by Texas Fossil Hound

[Hunt4teeth]

Wow! Those are some great finds. I really hope to make it out there next year. For now, I just have to live vicariously through this forum.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

yall really killed it out there! one of those places a serious collector should visit at least once.

[RickNC]

Nice!

[Al Dente]

Nice finds. I think your Echinorhinus tooth might actually be a Hexanchus symphyseal tooth.

[John Hamilton]

Nice finds. I think your Echinorhinus tooth might actually be a Hexanchus symphyseal tooth.

I second that opinion.

[Scylla]

Nice teeth! That allodesmus is sweet

[MarcoSr]

You had a great trip. Lots of nice specimens. I do agree that the one tooth is not a bramble but a Hexanchus symphyseal tooth. Hexanchus symphyseal teeth are also rare so your tooth is still a great find.

Marco Sr.

[zachj]

you killed it man! great job on those makos!

[mrieder79]

That makes me want to sell everything and move there. Great hunt and I'm glad you had such good luck.

[AeroMike]

Very nice finds indeed~! I need to make tihs trip as it is on my bucket list.

[sixgill pete]

Splendid. I also agree that your tooth is a Hexanchus symphyseal, also an amazing find. I really like that golden tipped mako.

[obsessed1]

Great haul! A hex and an allodesmus from there are still on my must find list.

[Dave pom Allen]

i am no expert but your Primitive Dolphin Tooth (Squalodon) looks more like a seal tooth to me the way it is set in the bone but am sure bobby might be more accurate and put me right.

Edited December 3, 2013 by Dave pom Allen

[Texas Fossil Hound]

I sincerely appreciate the feedback and corrections. I was back and forth on the Hexanchus symphyseal vs. E. blakei. Take a look at the Hexanchus pics vs. the E. blakei teeth on the Elasmo website.

http://elasmo.com/

Echinorhinus blakei - CA

Hexanchus andersoni - CA (bottom right is a Symphyseal tooth)

Anyone have other Hexanchus symphyseal tooth pics?

jon

Edited December 4, 2013 by Texas Fossil Hound

[siteseer]

Texas Fossil Hound,

How was the oplegnathid mouth plate identified? It's been a while since I've been to the museum but I don't think that fish jaw form was identified to family in the display case of bony fishes the last time I was there. I know that the genus Oplegnathus was in the latest STH fauna list as of a few years ago but I've never seen the name with a specimen before. I have a couple of those but they were not self-collected (have dug there for years) leaving me to assume they are at least somewhat uncommon if not rare.

Jess

Oplegnathid Mouth plate - has round Molar teeth on the opposite side (very interesting!)

IMG_0649sm.jpg

[Boesse]

Dave and others - it is an odontocete tooth, but Squalodon (or even squalodontids) has not yet been identified from the middle Miocene of California. These teeth with the bulged root are often identified as Prosqualodon, which is even worse, since Prosqualodon is strictly southern hemisphere.

[siteseer]

Bobby,

Isn't that the tooth form that goes with the skull of Zarhinocetus errabundus?

Jess

Dave and others - it is an odontocete tooth, but Squalodon (or even squalodontids) has not yet been identified from the middle Miocene of California. These teeth with the bulged root are often identified as Prosqualodon, which is even worse, since Prosqualodon is strictly southern hemisphere.

Edited December 4, 2013 by siteseer

[siteseer]

There are two general symphyseal tooth forms of Hexanchus. One bears a central cusp with smaller ones on either side; another bears just smaller cusps curving away from a central area but with a less symmetrical overall outline (sort of like a buzzsaw). That tooth on elasmo.com in the lower right corner does not look like a symphyseal to me (possible pathologic). There might be a photo elsewhere on the FF.

Jess

I sincerely appreciate the feedback and corrections. I was back and forth on the Hexanchus symphyseal vs. E. blakei. Take a look at the Hexanchus pics vs. the E. blakei teeth on the Elasmo website.

http://elasmo.com/

Echinorhinus blakei - CA

Echinorhinus blakei - CA.jpg

Hexanchus andersoni - CA (bottom right is a Symphyseal tooth)

Hexanchus andersoni - CA.jpg

Anyone have other Hexanchus symphyseal tooth pics?

jon

[DitchDiggerDos]

I sincerely appreciate the feedback and corrections. I was back and forth on the Hexanchus symphyseal vs. E. blakei. Take a look at the Hexanchus pics vs. the E. blakei teeth on the Elasmo website.

http://elasmo.com/

Echinorhinus blakei - CA

Echinorhinus blakei - CA.jpg

Hexanchus andersoni - CA (bottom right is a Symphyseal tooth)

Hexanchus andersoni - CA.jpg

Anyone have other Hexanchus symphyseal tooth pics?

jon

Jon!

I am so glad you posted your bounty from the trip. Well done, you have some incredible finds. It looks like Slow Curve was the right call.

It was great getting to know you, Kevin and Jim. I look forward to hunting together soon.

Here is a picture of the only Hexanchus symphyseal I've found since digging the Shark Tooth Hill area. This came out of the East side of the West Quarry in 2012.

- Jim