Micro-Fossils From Cookiecutter Micro-Matrix

[digit]

In addition to a growing count of cookiecutter shark teeth (and the usual common variety of tiny shark teeth from my recent batch of cookiecutter shark micro-matrix, I've found a few other potentially noteworthy items that I'll present here for show-and-tell and possibly a bit of help with some of the IDs.

First up are a collection of small bits that are either coprolitic or geologic. I've found several of these and so I've saved them while I try to determine if they are indeed trace fossils from the back side of some animal that made a unique contribution to my micro-matrix or, instead, if they are some sort of geologic geode-like concretion. Here's a photo to illustrate my confoundation:

You can see from the photo above that these whitish items are lumpy and slightly elongate and a few have a trailing "tail-shaped" extension. The one in the lower right corner measures out at approximately 6 x 6 x 9 mm. The item in the upper left is lumpy on the backside like the others but the side shown is broken and shows the interior with what appear to be calcite type crystals. I don't know enough about coprolites to know if a hollow crystalline interior precludes these from being coprolites or not. Any experts on this subject are welcome and encouraged to weigh in.

Cheers.

-Ken

[digit]

In addition to some really really small shark teeth (some of the smallest appear to be Rhizoprionodon laterals only 2mm across), I came across this tiny tidbit. Pretty darn difficult to get a good quality photo--too small for the "super macro" on my little point and shoot and not great depth of field with my digital microscope.

This little oddity is all of 3.5 mm end to end. I've tried to show it in "profile" in two orientations with the lateral point facing to the side and facing up (though it does not show up well in this orientation due to the limited depth of field). I just wanted to show what this item looked like from two different views. Opposite the end with the large point there are a pair of equal size very tiny points. The piece, whatever it is, does not appear to be broken from something larger but it is hard to be completely certain. Anybody ever encounter something like this before?

-Ken

[digit]

This next one seems to be a small (4.7 mm along the major axis) incisor of some sort. I am led to think this from the curved surface that looks like it might mesh with a tooth from the opposite direction. I've included two sides of this item which clearly shows that it is broken off at the base. If indeed this is an incisor I'm wondering if it might be mammalian and not fish like the vast majority of other small teeth I've pulled from this micro-matrix?

Any thoughts welcome as usual.

-Ken

[digit]

Speaking of fish teeth, this mix is rife with a variety of piscine dentition. Here is a sample group photo of some of the sorts I'm finding on a pretty regular basis (between "Yahoo" moments when I locate another cookiecutter shark tooth).

The teeth in the upper left corner appear to be the small flattened conical teeth usually attributed to barracuda. Much smaller than the monster 'cuda tooth that I found while sifting for the mico-matrix. To the right of the barracuda teeth are much longer curved teeth with hollow roots which I'm assuming are fish (but freely admit I could be way off). In the upper right are an assortment of ray teeth that always remind me of the alien invaders in the 1978 arcade video game for some reason (I think it's the little leg-like roots on the bottom). Below the ray teeth at the bottom are a few pharyngeal (throat) teeth likely from drum fish which look like little buttons. Above the drum teeth and to the left are a variety of fully conical teeth from a variety of species possibly including porgies.

-Ken

[digit]

I think this may possibly be a tiny shark (or ray) dermal denticle. it looks like a little rose thorn with a round cupped base and a pointed tip. There are several tiny specs of sand stuck into the top side of this item and it might appear that there are some striations in this area. The circular base is approximately 3 mm in diameter.

Any thoughts on this little one?

-Ken

[digit]

I think I may know what this little item is--it seems I've seen something like it in one of my ID books which was described as the tail vertebra of a fish. If so it is from a really small fish as it is only 5.5 mm in overall length. Though hard to see from the photos it is flattened along one axis (with a broken edge to one of the "wings"). Perpendicular to this axis and one the same plane that it seems to have attached to the rest of the vertebrae are smaller keels. Apologies for the unclear photos but this one resisted sharp imaging.

That's all for the moment. If I find any other worthy micros that I can photograph I'll add them here.

Cheers.

-Ken

[jcbshark]

You definatley have quite the assortment going on there Ken! I wish I could help with IDs but I'm sure some of the micro guys will be able to. I think aside from cuda teeth some of the ones I've seen in there are gar and/ or grouper/ snapper teeth. Not to hijack your thread but if anyone is interested in finding your own micros I'm auctioning off a medium flat rate box ( about 25 pounds) to benefit the forum in the auction section and I'm covering shipping in the US : ) The matrix is from the same site

[digit]

Great idea Jeff. This is some interesting micro-matrix that I'm sure someone would have a great time sorting through. Perfect for those in the higher latitudes who are likely housebound in their fossil hunting options for the next couple of months. Do you want to hold the auction on this thread or will you be starting an independent one? Hope the bidding raises some good funds for the forum and makes the recipient happy with all the little micro-fossils they will find.

-Ken

[jcbshark]

Thanks Ken, I already had the auction up this Am : )

Edited December 24, 2014 by jcbshark

[MarcoSr]

I think this may possibly be a tiny shark (or ray) dermal denticle. it looks like a little rose thorn with a round cupped base and a pointed tip. There are several tiny specs of sand stuck into the top side of this item and it might appear that there are some striations in this area. The circular base is approximately 3 mm in diameter.

item2-01.jpg item2-02.jpg

Any thoughts on this little one?

-Ken

Ken

I think it is a Dasyatis tooth with the root missing.

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

This next one seems to be a small (4.7 mm along the major axis) incisor of some sort. I am led to think this from the curved surface that looks like it might mesh with a tooth from the opposite direction. I've included two sides of this item which clearly shows that it is broken off at the base. If indeed this is an incisor I'm wondering if it might be mammalian and not fish like the vast majority of other small teeth I've pulled from this micro-matrix?

item3-01.jpg item3-02.jpg

Any thoughts welcome as usual.

-Ken

Ken

This could be a fish tooth from a porgy (Sparidae family)

Marco Sr.

[kauffy]

I think I may know what this little item is--it seems I've seen something like it in one of my ID books which was described as the tail vertebra of a fish. If so it is from a really small fish as it is only 5.5 mm in overall length. Though hard to see from the photos it is flattened along one axis (with a broken edge to one of the "wings"). Perpendicular to this axis and one the same plane that it seems to have attached to the rest of the vertebrae are smaller keels. Apologies for the unclear photos but this one resisted sharp imaging.

item4-01.jpg item4-02.jpg

That's all for the moment. If I find any other worthy micros that I can photograph I'll add them here.

Cheers.

-Ken

Im not too familiar with the tail vertebrae that you speak of, do you have any visual references to could compare with?

To me this looks like some sort of fish cranial element, an operculum or lachrymal.

Cheers, Chris

[digit]

Here's a quick update from the results from a couple of cups of micro-matrix that I just had to sort through today. Found another thorny bit as pictured in post #5 above. I'll have to compare it to some of the male Dasyatis ray teeth that I have to see if it resembles this (minus the root).

I also found a small calcareous gastropod operculum with the characteristic growth spiral on the flat side. I find many of these, called Cat's Eye Opercula, during my work in the South Pacific from various species of Turban (Turbo) shells. If you've never heard about these interesting oddities, which are favorites with shell collectors, here's a link to an article explaining more: http://stoneplus.cst.cmich.edu/zoogems/catseyeop.html

Here's my little find from this afternoon:

But what really made my day was another nice cookiecutter (Isistius) shark tooth. After finding several broken teeth and a few nice smaller ones, this one revealed itself on my paper plate while sorting through the micro-matrix. Unbelievably, it's my second symphyseal Isistius (a little smaller than the first at a mere 5.4 x 3.2 mm) but in good shape and with really nice color. You never know what will pop out of this micro-matrix.

Cheers.

-Ken

[MarcoSr]

But what really made my day was another nice cookiecutter (Isistius) shark tooth. After finding several broken teeth and a few nice smaller ones, this one revealed itself on my paper plate while sorting through the micro-matrix. Unbelievably, it's my second symphyseal Isistius (a little smaller than the first at a mere 5.4 x 3.2 mm) but in good shape and with really nice color. You never know what will pop out of this micro-matrix.

cookie2.jpg

Cheers.

-Ken

Ken

Symphyseals are rare. Finding two really nice ones, in one 5 gallon bucket, is incredible luck. I'd buy a lottery ticket if I was you.

Marco Sr.

[digit]

My wife likes to remind me on a regular basis that I am one lucky guy. I'm inclined to believe her.

I've always believed you can make your own luck by being open to opportunities and by being doggedly persistent at times. Sifting two nearly filled 5-gallon buckets of the magical micro-matrix and spending the time to clean, re-sift, and then sort through the micro-matrix looking for tiny prizes that can barely be seen at arm's length is really the kind of thing I enjoy. You have to put in the effort some times to be 'lucky' but I believe you tend to be rewarded by the gods of chance more often if you prepare the way and sweeten the odds a bit. My first really successful Mazon Creek nodule hunt (after years of stumbling around without a clue) netted me a really nice (and rare) spiny millipede (on display as part of the December FOTM gallery of items). When I get back up there next year with Rob and Charlie and the gang, I'll try my luck in the Essex Biota area and see if I can't pull out a nice Tully Monster on my rookie attempt there. Contact and surround yourself with competent knowledgeable people, be at the right place at the right time, put forth a modicum of effort and the rewards (in the form of incredible luck) will soon follow--that's my motto anyway. (NOTE: This method does not work for the lottery as that works on dumb luck only.)

Sending off some nice bags of the micro-matrix to friends with young kids with impressionable minds who have been out on the Peace River with me looking for the larger teeth in the past. Figured they'd enjoy hunting on the micro-scale as well. Will be interesting to see what else is hiding in that bucket in my garage...

Cheers.

-Ken

[jcbshark]

Wow Ken, congrats!!!!

[Auspex]

If you can surround yourself with competent knowledgeable people, you have already won the biggest lottery this life has to offer.

Never pass up an opportunity to say "Yes"!

[jcbshark]

If you can surround yourself with competent knowledgeable people, you have already won the biggest lottery this life has to offer.

Never pass up an opportunity to say "Yes"!

Isn't that the TRUTH Chas!!!

[digit]

Never pass up an opportunity to say "Yes"!

Yup. Nothing sadder in life than a missed opportunity. I've got enough gray hair these days to wax philosophical when talking to 'young whipper-snappers' and I always instruct them (much like Robert Frost might have) to take opportunities and 'the road less traveled' when they arise. It's boring running with the pack and life's too short for that.

-Ken

[Indy]

If you can surround yourself with competent knowledgeable people, you have already won the biggest lottery this life has to offer.

Never pass up an opportunity to say "Yes"!

Truer words were never spoken !!

[RickNC]

In addition to a growing count of cookiecutter shark teeth (and the usual common variety of tiny shark teeth from my recent batch of cookiecutter shark micro-matrix, I've found a few other potentially noteworthy items that I'll present here for show-and-tell and possibly a bit of help with some of the IDs.

First up are a collection of small bits that are either coprolitic or geologic. I've found several of these and so I've saved them while I try to determine if they are indeed trace fossils from the back side of some animal that made a unique contribution to my micro-matrix or, instead, if they are some sort of geologic geode-like concretion. Here's a photo to illustrate my confoundation:

PC240004.jpg

You can see from the photo above that these whitish items are lumpy and slightly elongate and a few have a trailing "tail-shaped" extension. The one in the lower right corner measures out at approximately 6 x 6 x 9 mm. The item in the upper left is lumpy on the backside like the others but the side shown is broken and shows the interior with what appear to be calcite type crystals. I don't know enough about coprolites to know if a hollow crystalline interior precludes these from being coprolites or not. Any experts on this subject are welcome and encouraged to weigh in.

Cheers.

-Ken

Found a bunch of these in that stuff myself.

[TheAshBee]

Speaking of fish teeth, this mix is rife with a variety of piscine dentition. Here is a sample group photo of some of the sorts I'm finding on a pretty regular basis (between "Yahoo" moments when I locate another cookiecutter shark tooth).

PC240006.jpg

The teeth in the upper left corner appear to be the small flattened conical teeth usually attributed to barracuda. Much smaller than the monster 'cuda tooth that I found while sifting for the mico-matrix. To the right of the barracuda teeth are much longer curved teeth with hollow roots which I'm assuming are fish (but freely admit I could be way off). In the upper right are an assortment of ray teeth that always remind me of the alien invaders in the 1978 arcade video game for some reason (I think it's the little leg-like roots on the bottom). Below the ray teeth at the bottom are a few pharyngeal (throat) teeth likely from drum fish which look like little buttons. Above the drum teeth and to the left are a variety of fully conical teeth from a variety of species possibly including porgies.

-Ken

I'm inclined to say that your two hollow-rooted teeth are from a shark of some sort. Teeth located in files further from the front of the mouth tend to have only the enamel fossilize, with no root lobes or "filler" inside the enamel shell.

Not having the benefit of seeing the other profile of these teeth, that would be my guess.

Awesome finds! You're inspiring me to check out my Potomac River matrix...

[digit]

Currently doing coral reef research around the southern portion of Palau at the moment. I've mailed off the remainder of my cookiecutter shark tooth magic micro-matrix before leaving. Hoping to reload some when I get back home in February (time, temp and water level permitting). Given the success of the last auction to benefit the Forum, I'm sure Jeff or I will offer up another batch soon. We'll drive down the price of a Isistius tooth quicker than OPEC can do for a barrel of oil.

Cheers.

-Ken

P.S.: Here's a peek from one of our prettier dive sites.

[digit]

Decided to revive this topic rather than starting a new one.

I sent some of the cookiecutter micro-matrix I collected last December to friends up in Jacksonville. This weekend I made a trip up to JAX with a brief stop to see John (Sacha). I was able to see some of John's collection and he was gracious enough to use his slab saw to slice open for me some of the fossilized corals I found in southern Georgia last year. Enjoyed the cooler weather up in the northern corner of the state and had a great time catching-up on things with friends (and eating lots of great food). After one dinner party we pulled out the bag of cookiecutter micro-matrix and I sat down with my friend's grandson to show him how to hunt micro-fossils. Quinn is turning 15 this year (and getting a learner's permit--yikes! where does the time go?) and has a wide variety of interests including science and nature. He's been on hunting trips with us a couple of times over the last few years on the Peace River and enjoyed it so much that he brought his best friend Oliver last time.

We grabbed a plate and a couple of toothpicks and with a pair of plastic drinking cups and a smaller container with a lid we were set for an expedition into the world of micro-paleontology. I scooped up about a measuring cup full of cookiecutter matrix and spread a small amount of it out onto a plate. I had already showed him photos of both fossil cookiecutter shark teeth (from this forum) as well as images of modern cookiecutters displaying their unusual dentition. Quinn was stoked for the hunt and within a minute some small shark teeth started to emerge from the micro-gravel. A few nice tiny lemon shark teeth, a nano Rhizoprionodon (sharpnose shark) tooth or two as well as some small ray teeth and drum fish pharangeal teeth which look like little buttons. Oddly, the barracuda teeth that seem so common in this matrix failed to appear but since they would likely be common throughout the rest of the bag of gravel I was able to find some nice images on this forum to show Quinn so he wouldn't miss them when they started appearing. We even found a distinctive (two-pronged) porgy tooth (Sparidae) which Quinn marveled at under the 10x photographers loupe.

I was explaining to him that cookiecutter shark teeth are very small and thin making them very fragile. This seems to be the reason why I was not able to find a single one in a 5-gallon bucket of micro-matrix that I collected from an area on the Peace River with a lot of very fine gravel where we had hunted the year before and had a contest to see how many tiny shark teeth we could get in a single screen (I think the record was 24-25). I was really hoping to find a cookiecutter that evening because I wanted him to get the search image of what they look like. Amazingly, before we were halfway through that small cup of micro-matrix we spotted the first cookiecutter. It was a tiny on (probably only 2mm across) and was only the triangular blade with the distinctive square root missing. I welcomed him into membership in the Cookiecutter Club with a handshake and a smile and told him he now had two more goals to attain in this regard. He now needed to find his first whole tooth and then the elusive prize of a symphyseal (center) tooth. The kid's got some powerful luck I tell you. Toward the end of the same spread of micro-gravel where he had just uncovered his first glimpse of a cookiecutter tooth there stood a second tooth--a whole one. We moved the micro-matrix away from this little prize and took a closer look under the 10x loupe. Not only did he have a whole tooth--though still small at around 3mm across--but the pair of overlapped edges on one side of the tooth showed this to be a symphyseal! I wish I had a camera with me to capable of providing accompanying photos but I didn't so you'll just have to use your imagination on this one.

At that point the rest of the adults had to come over to see what we where whooping and hollering about. Each in turn, took the loupe to gaze at the tiny little rarity sitting proud on the white plate. We finished off that first cup of micro-matrix with several more interesting tiny shark teeth from a variety of species and a few other odds and ends. It would have been anti-climactic to have gone through another cup of micro-matrix and it was getting late so we packed up Quinn's nascent micro-fossil collection and they headed back home for the night. I'm guessing his dreams were peppered with scenes of fossil hunting and thoughts of swimming with cookiecutter sharks. Quinn had recently completed his open water scuba certification and had his first dive trip through the Florida Keys last summer. He asked me if I'd ever seen cookiecutter sharks in the water. I told him that I hadn't and that they would be exceeding rare to see while diving. We laughed when I said that if they were as common as shark suckers (remoras) that we'd all have to dive with Kevlar wetsuits to keep from being plugged by these most bizarre little sharks.

I think both micro-palentology and cookiecutter sharks have gained their next young fan.

Cheers.

-Ken

[jcbshark]

Wow Ken, you must've pulled every symphyseal tooth that creek had out there in that one bucket!!!! I need to borrow your lucky shovel next time lol! : )