aussiefossils Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Bay find 5cm wide... Parrot fish or porcupine mouth plate? Also is this fairly recent? Id please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 It looks like a porcupine fish mouth plate or a closely related fish. Parrot fish have a divided jaw, this is a single fused jaw. I would guess this is modern but I'm not positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Also is this fairly recent? It looks pretty fresh. If you don't mind possibly damaging the specimen a bit, you could do the lighter test. Bone contains a very tough protein called collagen, and when it burns it puts out a very acrid smell. As the specimen becomes fossilized, the collagen decomposes and is replaced. So... to do the lighter test you hold the flame of a lighter on some part of the specimen for a few seconds. If it puts out a strong oder of burnt collagen, then it is not fossilized and is fairly recent. To test what burnt collagen smells like, cut off a bit of your hair and burn that. Hair contain a lot of collagen. That is the smell you are looking for. Now your nose is "calibrated" for doing the test. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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