Hunson Abadeer Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I found this recently loose on a beach in southern NJ, USA. Pretty sure it's coral of some kind, but not sure if it qualifies as a fossil. It appears to have remnants of the creature(s) under the wheel-looking parts that can sort of be seen from the second pic. I have pics from other angles, but they went over the file limit. I could try to post them if necessary. Any help on identification or approximate age would be awesome. Thanx for your time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZ_Fossil_Collecta Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 if you found it on a beach it could be modern, and judging by the state of it i would think so. I'm CRAZY about amber fossils and just as CRAZY in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Not a coral, it's a bonefish pharyngeal bone. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunson Abadeer Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 Not a coral, it's a bonefish pharyngeal bone. Don Wow, so it's like a tooth? Freaky. Would never have guessed that... Thanx! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lissa318 Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 It would be the part of the mouth that held the teeth in. A mouthplate... Each of those gaps contained a tooth. Look up drum fish mouthplate for comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunson Abadeer Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 It would be the part of the mouth that held the teeth in. A mouthplate... Each of those gaps contained a tooth. Look up drum fish mouthplate for comparison. Aha, the drum fish plates are very similar. So, (excuse my lame terminology) the disc looking things that are under the wheel-like circle indentations are teeth that didn't pop out or develop yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lissa318 Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 There are no teeth left in the plate. What you are seeing at the bottom of the indentations would be where the tooth would have met the bone. Bone is porous. It is a nice find although it doesn't look like any fossilized ones I've found. I am guessing more modern but I'm not an expert. Still cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunson Abadeer Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 It seems very fragile. Probably modern like ya said. As you can see by the sand around it, I'm afraid to clean it. I just keep shaking the sand out... It apparently has an infinite capacity for holding sand! The parts I was curious about were these things I circled: For lack of a better description. they look like small, hollow, inverted bowls that follow the shape of the "wheel" they are under. They are loose, but secure in their "compartments". There's at least two intact. Here's a cropped underside shot for some detail (sorry about the low res)... One more angle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dozer operator Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Looks like part of a modern black drum jaw. The loose part inside the cavity is the teeth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.