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More Shark Teeth


Andy

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Here are some more shark teeth. I am starting to get the hang of identifying shark teeth. What are these? The first photos is teeth from Calvert Cliffs, Maryland. The second photo is a tiger shark tooth (I think) from Venice Beach,FL and a smaller tooth from Charleston,South Carolina. The third photo is more teeth from Calvert Cliffs,MD. They are all Miocene, I think.

Thanks-

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The first photo looks to be l-r 2 Carcharhinus teeth, both uppers. Likely C. leucas, the Bull shark. Then a Physogaleus contortus, then a lower Carcharhinus. Second pic is either a mako or a sand tiger. I can't tell if there is a cusp on the far side or not. The small tooth looks like it may be a posterior mako. Last pic looks again to be 3 Carcharhinus teeth.

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I forgot to say what I think they are because I can examine them right in front of me, all you have is a pic. The first two in the first pic (left to right) is two bull shark teeth. The next one I think is a Galeocerdo contortus. The last one in that pic looks like a Carcharhinus priscus to me, which is a grey shark. In the second pic, I think the first one (left to right) is a Sand Tiger and the smaller one, I don't what it is. It has small serations that you can't see in the pic. So, I don't think it is Mako. The last pic, I think left to right is another bull shark tooth, and maybe two other bull shark tooth. Except they could be lemon or hammerhead, those last two. Let me know what you think.

Thanks-

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I forgot to say what I think they are because I can examine them right in front of me, all you have is a pic. The first two in the first pic (left to right) is two bull shark teeth. The next one I think is a Galeocerdo contortus. The last one in that pic looks like a Carcharhinus priscus to me, which is a grey shark. In the second pic, I think the first one (left to right) is a Sand Tiger and the smaller one, I don't what it is. It has small serations that you can't see in the pic. So, I don't think it is Mako. The last pic, I think left to right is another bull shark tooth, and maybe two other bull shark tooth. Except they could be lemon or hammerhead, those last two. Let me know what you think.

Thanks-

Andy: Last photo is all Carcharhinus teeth, no hammerhead or lemon. The small tooth in the second photo could be another Carcharhinus if there are serrations. This genus is almost as tough as sand-tigers to tell apart. Lowers from 1 species could look like uppers from another. Best to see which ones are most prevalent in the areas you're hunting. Galeocerdo contortus is no longer a valid name. These teeth are now called Physogaleus contortus. If you google Physogaleus and look at some of the other species, they look closer to the contortus teeth than the Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo)

There's no limit to what you can accomplish when you're supposed to be doing something else

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I forgot to say what I think they are because I can examine them right in front of me, all you have is a pic. The first two in the first pic (left to right) is two bull shark teeth. The next one I think is a Galeocerdo contortus. The last one in that pic looks like a Carcharhinus priscus to me, which is a grey shark. In the second pic, I think the first one (left to right) is a Sand Tiger and the smaller one, I don't what it is. It has small serations that you can't see in the pic. So, I don't think it is Mako. The last pic, I think left to right is another bull shark tooth, and maybe two other bull shark tooth. Except they could be lemon or hammerhead, those last two. Let me know what you think.

Thanks-

Andy, I'm think you said the first picture was of teeth from Calvert Cliffs, Md. As a result, I'm not sure that you have any bull sharks. As I read Kent (Fossil Sharks of the Chesapeake Bay Region), you don't find Carcharhinus leucas (bull) or obscurus (dusky) in the Chesapeake Bay region. The most common Gray in the Bay area is C. egertoni. Possibly what you have?

Besides fossils,

I collect roadcuts,

Stream beds,

Winter beaches:

Places of pilgrimage.

Jasper Burns, Fossil Dreams

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Andy, I'm think you said the first picture was of teeth from Calvert Cliffs, Md. As a result, I'm not sure that you have any bull sharks. As I read Kent (Fossil Sharks of the Chesapeake Bay Region), you don't find Carcharhinus leucas (bull) or obscurus (dusky) in the Chesapeake Bay region. The most common Gray in the Bay area is C. egertoni. Possibly what you have?

I stand corrected. JB is right. No bull in MD. MY memory just ain't what it used to be as I noticed bulls were absent from that book some time ago. I really shouldn't post stuff while I'm at work. It pays to have reference books, and that is a great one Andy and I recommend you pick one up if you're doing a lot of collecting around that area. I'll post a photo later with lemons,hammerheads and carcharhinus teeth together.

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I was reviewing the Calvert formation teeth in my collection. There are quite a few species but the following three might help you with the first photo:

post-69-1201302979.jpg Carcharinus egertoni

post-69-1201302994.jpg Sphyrna laevissima

post-69-1201303006.jpg Negaprion eurybathrodon

An aside:

It just occured to me where Harry Pristis gets his handle :lol:

For Harry. Here is a pair of nice quality 'Hemipristis serra' from the Calvert formation

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Well I guess I was beaten to the punch. One question though for you Geo: how sure are you that what you've called S. laevissima is correct. I don't see much of a groove in the root and the "notch" on the distal side isn't as noticeable as on most. It could still be a lower anterior based on the dentition pictures in Kent's book. Here's a shot of a Sphyrna zygaena from Peru.

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I was wondering about that too i don't see where it has the distinct deep nutrient groove or even a thick root that all hammerheads have.

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Were any of my shark teeth Carcharhinus priscus ? Is that the grey shark?

Thanks-

Andy: I recommend you go to elasmo.com and compare the teeth you have with the photos on their site. Having the teeth in your hand, you can see small details that we can't see in your pictures. Elasmo has very clear photos, often several of each species, and should be a help to you. The teeth on the right side in you 1st and 3rd photo could be C.priscus or they could be lowers of another species, they are that similar.

There's no limit to what you can accomplish when you're supposed to be doing something else

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That's a very good website. Thanks. I couldn't find any Carcharhinus teeth on there though. Are there any on there?

Thanks-

Andy:

I find the identification of teeth to be a exciting and, often, frustrating challenge. It’s a mixture of science and art, with some guessing in the mixture. I have long since given up on knowing precisely the genus and species of every tooth I have in my collection. Often, there’s too much wear. So, for some genera, in particular, my records often indicate “sp.” for species since I cannot determine that. Since I am also new to this, I thought it might be helpful to share some of what I’ve found useful.

In addition to the good folks on the forum, there are several very useful resources you might consult. Northern Sharks put you on to www.elasmo.com which is a great site. Yes, on elasmo, there are Carcharhinus, for example, look at the Heim on Sharks page. Elasmo also has a nice “quick and dirty” tooth id page (with several Carcharhinus):

http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/e...ion/guide_f.htm But, I don’t find any egertoni or priscus (perhaps not in the formations covered).

Since some of your teeth are coming from the Chesapeake Bay area, I have two strong recommendations. Look at the pictures on www.fossilguy.com They provide several examples of what they have found at different general sites in the region. I basically use the site to see if my ids match their ids. There are pictures of what fossilguy identifies as priscus at the Calvert Cliffs page on the site: www.fossilguy.com/sites/calvert If you haven’t invested in Bretton W. Kent’s Fossil Sharks of the Chesapeake Bay Region, you should (Northern Sharks mentioned this as well). The drawings and comments about specific aspects of the teeth are wonderfully useful.

There are other resources to consider. Joe Cocke’s Fossil Shark Teeth of the World is sometimes useful, though the pictures aren’t great. With complete teeth from the Neogene, you can use Robert Purdy’s A Key to the Common Genera of Neogene Shark Teeth. Through a series of questions about a tooth, the key leads you to an answer as to genus (in some cases, the key identifies the species as well). It’s sometimes a difficult process. The definition of terms is critical (as it is with Kent’s book). The nice thing about the key is that it’s available on the web at: http://paleobiology.si.edu/pdfs/sharktoothKey.pdf -- you want the March 2006 version.

Hope this is of some help. Good luck.

JB

Besides fossils,

I collect roadcuts,

Stream beds,

Winter beaches:

Places of pilgrimage.

Jasper Burns, Fossil Dreams

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I don't know the difference between some of the smaller teeth, especially Bull, Copper, Grey etc. Can anyone give me any pointers? And the hammerhead from Peru makes me drool. thanks

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http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?showtopic=535

If the link works, here's a description of the difference between Dusky and Bull shark teeth. Copper shark teeth look similar to Bulls, just smaller and the blade may be proportionately narrower. I have modern Dusky, Copper and Sandbar shark jaws and you can see a difference in the uppers. The lower teeth look virtually the same other than size. Someone told me an easy way to distinguish between species is the varying amounts of rows of teeth, but that isn't much help when you're dealing with loose fossils. Best bet is to follow the path that Hybodus listed on elasmo.com and compare for yourself.

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I have been using Fossilguy.com a lot. Is C. Egertoni a copper shark?

Thanks-

C.egertoni is an extinct requiem/gray shark. The Copper shark is C.brachyurus and is still around.

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Northern Sharks- I checked out the link to the other thread and saw the teeth you had posted. One was a bull shark from Bone Valley, FL and the other was a dusky shark from the Pungo River Formation in Hereford County , NC. Did you collect that one? I like those red colored shark teeth. I travel down to that part of NC all the time. Do you know if you if you can still collect at that site? Is it private property? Lastly, where exactly is it? I am creating a thread in the fossiling locations part of the forum on this topic.

Thanks-

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Northern Sharks- I checked out the link to the other thread and saw the teeth you had posted. One was a bull shark from Bone Valley, FL and the other was a dusky shark from the Pungo River Formation in Hereford County , NC. Did you collect that one? I like those red colored shark teeth. I travel down to that part of NC all the time. Do you know if you if you can still collect at that site? Is it private property? Lastly, where exactly is it? I am creating a thread in the fossiling locations part of the forum on this topic.

Thanks-

I bought that tooth, as I do all my others. I don't know exactly where it was found, just the general area. Some people call it the "red river". I don't think it's private but you would have to go diving to find anything. I have the Dusky, a Great White, a couple of I.hastalis, I.desori , a Snaggletooth (rare from that site) and a Tiger (very rare). The Great White and the I.desori are in my gallery, but I just can't seem to get the color to come out right with the others. Still watching for a meg from there, but they get pretty pricey. I also saw a P.benedeni from there a few years ago that sold for big bucks. By the way, it's Hertford County in the northeast, not Hereford.

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Here's another tooth, it is very low-resolution (I found it online), but give it your best shot. It is from Venice Beach, FL (Bone Valley Formation), the ID is unknown.

Thanks-

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