NJ ID Help

[wetwilly]

Hi,

 

Not sure what I have here.  Found in one of the brooks on Monmouth County NJ.  Any ideas?

(1/2" x 7/8")

 

Thanks. 

 

[Carl]

It's a bit hard to read because it's quite beat up but I think you have a split mosasaur tooth there. Can you shoot the side resting on your hand?

[wetwilly]

Thanks Carl.  Here is the other side.

[wetwilly]

A couple more pics of same.

[Ludwigia]

Looks like a suggestive piece of chert to me.

[abyssunder]

Similar ?

http://www.fossilguy.com/sites/bbrook/bbrook_col.htm#mosasaur

 

[LordTrilobite]

It does give off a slight geologic vibe. But is that enamel I spot on the first two pictures? I would have to agree that it looks like a tooth. A badly damaged one though.

[non-remanié]

13 hours ago, Carl said:

It's a bit hard to read because it's quite beat up but I think you have a split mosasaur tooth there. Can you shoot the side resting on your hand?

 

 

Definitely mosasaur.   Not uncommon to see preservation like this in the NJ brooks.  Slight patch of enameloid is giveaway

[ynot]

I agree with suggestive rock. The layer that looks like enamel also seems to be on the flat area on the top of the second picture in the first post.

 

Tony

[fifbrindacier]

Can those shapes be traces of a very worn coral or the result of a concretion ?

 

[tmaier]

insert icon of guy scratching head

[Carl]

I'm with non-remanié: Definitely a mosasaur tooth. Beat up yes, but it has all it needs to be IDed as an NJ mosasaur tooth! Nice job!

[wetwilly]

Not sure what a mosasaur tooth looks like when the thin layer of enamel is stripped away, be it from a digestive environment or rolling around against rocks etc.  With the enamel gone, would it resemble the chert look?  

I understand the suggestive concretion, but in hand it gives me the tooth feel. 

 

Thanks for the comments.

[wetwilly]

Oh,  was posting when you commented Carl.

 

Thanks!

[frankh8147]

This should be a surprise to absolutely no one but Steve and Carl are correct. I'll post a few picture of some split Mosasaur teeth as soon as I get a chance.

[frankh8147]

..

[frankh8147]

I think this picture is a little better.

[abyssunder]

Was I wrong with my links?

 

[frankh8147]

Not at all; it's definitely a split Mosasaur and a nice find!

[pedrobento]

Lol.

 

Been at the Brook for dozens of times... never got anything this cool... even my 9 year-old son gets better Exogyra sp. than me.

 

Great find.

[wetwilly]

Thanks Pedro