Khyssa Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 I had a good day fossil hunting on the Peace River in Florida this past Saturday. The day was sunny and warm in the upper 70's even though the water temp was a bit cold, at least cold by Florida standards. Not too many people were fossil hunting and only two of us stayed past 1 PM and we both left at about 4 PM. I found quite a few small sharks teeth, lots of pieces of turtle shell, pieces of misc. bone, what I think is the front tooth from a horse, some small vertebrae (1 fish, 2 either fish or snake), and a bunch of odds and ends. I also brought home two full 5 gallon buckets, one partially full 5 gallon, and two partially full 2 gallon buckets of gravel to be dried and sorted later. My back was not happy after loading and then unloading those from the car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khyssa Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 Some more pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khyssa Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 What might be some type of tooth, at least it appears to have some enamel on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMUFossil Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Great finds, thanks for posting!! Would love to make it down to the Peace sometime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khyssa Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 (edited) A couple more pictures. Edited December 23, 2014 by Khyssa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Great finds, Congrats! Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaver Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 super nice material. keep it up bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Hey Kyhssa, looks like you came home with some goodies and some extra stuff to go thru later. Congrats!....lots of variety out there and lots of little pieces. Keep after them! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Good on ya Kyhssa! I'd be guessing incisor as well but then I'd be pouring through my ID books trying to decide which species formerly included it among its dentition. Looks like you'll be set for some micro-fossil hunting with all that micro-matrix you collected. My wife calls me obsessive and crazy when I do things like bring home large buckets of gravel--nice to know I'm in good company. To post-process your micro-matrix for later micro-fossil hunting, I'd suggest two steps to clean it up a bit. The recent cookiecutter shark micro-matrix that I collected had a fair bit of both fragmented vegetative matter and fine sand along with the gravel/shell hash. I found that transferring about a gallon of the micro-gravel into a 5-gallon bucket and flushing with water (which is then tipped and decanted off) is a great way of 'floating out' much of the lighter tiny twig and leaf fragments as well as some of the sand. I did this till the flushing water ran pretty clear. I then set the gravel out on my driveway (on a tarp) to let it bake in the sun to dry. Once dried I used a loose piece of window screen material (about 2' x 2' in size) to roll around a drinking cup full of the micro-matrix filtering out the last of the sand and extremely tiny gravel. I then dumped the re-sifted micro-matrix gravel into a new bucket ready for micro-fossil hunting. This post processing really cut down on the amount of sandy sediment I kept encountering while looking for my tiny prizes. At least you can rest your back and hunt fossils from the comfort of a cushy chair now (though I've found my shoulders and neck get a little stiff from hunching over my paper plate of micro-matrix if I get carried away and overdue it). Cheers. -Ken P.S.: Send photos of any interesting micro-matrix finds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoreBack Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 That's some great stuff! That sand tiger tooth looks pristine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khyssa Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 Is the shark tooth a sand tiger? I couldn't decide if it looked more like a sand tiger or a mackerel. digit, I love looking for micro fossils although I also bring home some larger gravel too. I haven't tried your method for drying the gravel yet. Right now I've been spreading the gravel out in a couple large trays used for mixing concrete, old baking trays I usually keep pots of plant seedlings in, and an array of colorful plates that I originally intended to use for making mosaic flowerpots. All of this is spread out on the front porch and under the eaves behind the house because it keeps raining on the weekends preventing me from putting everything out on the driveway (I work full time). I don't have a lot of organic material in the mix but there are a lot of clams, which stink. So far I have found quite a few more small sharks teeth, ray parts, parts of puffer fish mouth plates, pieces of turtle shell, some nice shell castings, and what I think is a rodent incisor. I have about 5 gallons of gravel prepped for sorting but there's still a lot more to prep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Is the shark tooth a sand tiger? I couldn't decide if it looked more like a sand tiger or a mackerel. Khyssa, I have hunted the Peace River for more than 5 years and have found many Sand Tigers -- NONE of them look like your tooth. I have never found a shark tooth in the Peace that looks like yours. See this link http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/27611-mackerel-shark-tooth-from-the-peace-river-fl/ I am hopeful that the numerous TFF shark tooth experts will focus on your find. SS The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) I think the tooth is a lateral sand tiger, possibly/probably Carcharias taurus. Edited January 1, 2015 by sixgill pete Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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