jcbshark Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 I found this last weekend in a Desoto county creek. It's definitely fossilized and I can only imagine it came from a tarpon. Anyone have any other possibilities? Thanks in advance 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...
digit Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 It's the coolest fish scale I've seen come out of South Florida creeks. I'm used to finding the rectangular garfish ganoid (bony) scales but this one blows me away. Looks about the right size for a tarpon scale but I'm amazed that tarpon scales would fossilize. Hoping for some experts on this to chime in. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 That is sweet, Jeff! Congrats on the rare find, though I'm not sure if it's a Tarpon or not. Still cool, no matter who it came from. ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Jeff, What ever it is , it is neat and I do not know. Pls provide thickness and photo of other side. I have collected modern Tarpon scales, and while they might fossilize, I do not believe this is one because of thickness. The ones I have are paper thin and transparent like this one. http://www.redclaysoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Wm-Lamb-Son-Red-Clay-Soul-camerons-tarpon-scale.jpg But I have been wrong before.. Waiting for some real expertise. The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted May 26, 2015 Author Share Posted May 26, 2015 Thanks all for looking,I'll take a couple more pics when I get home: ) 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...
Plantguy Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Hey jeff glad you got out and found something cool!...it kind of looks like a ray dermal dentical I have...but yours looks to be lots thinner.. I did get out for a 1 hr land rehab yesterday late...got more insect photos than anything else...oh well It was still good...lol regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 It reminds me of Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio). "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Nice scale. I don't know if it is from a tarpon. I'm guessing it was in some type of nodule that spit exposing the scale. Photos of the back side should confirm this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceros Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 (edited) I've seen fossil tarpon scales in the FMNH in Gainesville, so it's possible. I think they preserve better than most bony fish scales because they're better calcified (and the big fish maybe a bit less flexible) than most. Tarpon is Megalops atlanticus Valenciennes, 1847, Fam. Elopidae (the ladyfish - sometimes they use Fam. Megalopidae). Edited May 27, 2015 by Diceros Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted May 26, 2015 Author Share Posted May 26, 2015 Thanks to everyone who has taken a look at this😀 here's a pic of the edge and reverse. It's pretty thin and relatively even across the whole piece 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...
old bones Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 That's a real nice find, Jeff. Most unusual too. I don't remember seeing anything like it from the Florida waterways on the Forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Neat scale find Jeff! It is really thin isnt it...Looks even better on a non-phone display! LOL...Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Hulbert notes the presence of tarpon scales in several Neogene localities in his book, "The Fossil Vertebrates of Florida." In the text he points the thinness of the specimens and he figured a specimen but it doesn't show any good detail. His scale has a more simple outline. However, when you look at other web images, you can see common features other than the size like that rough area along one edge with the rest of the scale showing visible growth lines crossed by long striations. I would lean toward tarpon or an extinct relative. I found this last weekend in a Desoto county creek. It's definitely fossilized and I can only imagine it came from a tarpon. Anyone have any other possibilities? Thanks in advance 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceros Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Eric - From the backside, I wouldn't say this scale was from a nodule, although it is unusually thick - I think it got an extra deposition of some mineral, probably calcite. Siteseer - The lens-shaped roughened area is the exposed part of the scale in the living fish, the part not overlapped by other scales. I can't remember now if it's in the front or back. It's characteristic of ctenoid scales. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted May 28, 2015 Author Share Posted May 28, 2015 Thanks for all the insight and info folks: ) 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...
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