Stratford Hall 11/2/16

[RCW3D]

I had originally scheduled today as a day off to go hunting...well, sitting in a tree when it is 80 degrees is mighty uncomfortable and the deer movement is usually nil, so I did a little shark tooth hunting instead. It's been a few weeks since I was at Stratford Hall so I set my sites on there. I would much rather just surface collect but since I'm restricted to the beach, I broke out the screens and sifted. I can't say I got anything too exciting, though I did find my first dolphin tooth which made the trip for me! I also found a small tooth that I'm not sure what it is, I looked through my book and my usual web sites for an ID an I've got nothing. So please help me out, let me know what I found.

 

Total haul:

 

 

Mako

 

 

First Dolphin tooth

 

 

My unknown...finding a tooth with cusps like this here has me confused. It is only a little over 1 CM wide

 

Front side:

 

 

Back side.

 

[RCW3D]

After looking through Phatfossils site some, I'm wondering if my unknown is a tiny Mako (Isurus Hastalis)...Marco, thoughts?

[MarcoSr]

49 minutes ago, RCW3D said:

After looking through Phatfossils site some, I'm wondering if my unknown is a tiny Mako (Isurus Hastalis)...Marco, thoughts?

 

We need to update the genus for hastalis on phatfossils.  The latest genus is Carcharodon which makes hastalis a great white (or white shark which is now the preferred common name used by researchers) versus a mako.  Modern great white juvenile sharks can have teeth with cusplets.  Juvenile hastalis can have teeth with cusplets.  So your tooth could be a juvenile hastalis.  However, on rare occasions Eocene teeth wash many miles down river to the Stratford Hall area.  The cusplets on your tooth are pretty robust for a junvenile hastals.

 

Marco Sr.

[RCW3D]

Thanks Marco! I took one look at it and thought, "What the heck is this?"

 

I could see how it could possibly wash down too, the mats in the fall from the dying grass could very easily transplant one downriver, especially a small tooth like this.