frankh8147 Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Me and my brother, shajzer64, both ended up having a day off on the 26th so we ended up heading down to the Cretaceous steams of Monmouth County. It was cold - really cold, but the steams treated us well. I found a large Mosasaur tooth (1.4 inch) with really nice coloration; it is red, yellow, orange and black, a nice ghost shrimp burrow, and my best Ischyodus (ratfish) specimen to date. Shane came up with a nice Xiphactinus tooth, a few nice gastropods, and a very large piece of fossil bone we are going to take to the museum in a few weeks. Overall, it was a tough trip but I'm glad we went for it! Cheers, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 .. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavialboy Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 wow those are some cool finds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Nice finds! Love the colors of that mosasaur! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Looks like You had a good day! Congratulations. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shajzer64 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 This is the bone Frank was talking about. Biggest one I've ever found, always nice to end the year on a strong note. Can't wait to get back out there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Any better focused shots of this bone? The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shajzer64 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Not at the moment. That one isn't at my apartment. I just snapped a few with my phone a few days ago. I can probably get some better pictures with an actual camera in the next day or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shajzer64 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 I managed to grab it today. Took a few better pictures, but I'm still working on balancing detail with image size limits. This one shows the interior patterns and bone structure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shajzer64 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 And here is a close-up and an angle of the top. I'm going to have to work to preserve it, the piece rather fragile for its size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Hey Frank! Sorry I just saw this today. Excellent mosasaur tooth! As you said the colors are amazing. Shane's ratfish jaw is excellent too! : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 3 hours ago, shajzer64 said: And here is a close-up and an angle of the top. I'm going to have to work to preserve it, the piece rather fragile for its size. Still hard to tell, but I'm wondering if this isn't a partial skull bone (part of the prootic?) from a mosasaur. In hand, does it have the bone texture of other local mosasaur finds? The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shajzer64 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I was thinking it could be something like that. The internal structure has a marine reptile look to it. The texture is what's throwing me off... It's got a good density to it, but the exterior seems likely to flake, so it doesn't have the smoothness I'm used to as a result. It has shiny flecks, most likely trace amounts of mica throughout it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Flaky and shiny flecks would be more typical of fish.... The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shajzer64 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Perhaps, do you know of any that might fit the profile? This piece is about 5 and a 1/4in long and 2 and 1/2in thick where it bows out. Most fish bones here are jaws and verts that don't get too big. Other types of fish bone are rare here so I don't have any to compare it to. This piece has been a tough ID since I found it. With how quickly things mineralize over here, I can't rule out Pleistocene yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Frank and Shane, that's a pretty impressive haul. Love the colorful mosasaur tooth, shrimp burrow, and ratfish jaw piece and I'm just dying to know what that bone is. Any one of those would be a trip maker for me. Big congratulations and thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shajzer64 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Thanks, that's why I love going out in the winter. Most people don't come out, so it's the best time for rare finds. A lot of it was found surface collecting. I was surprised to see my bone just sitting on rocks to the side of the stream. That wouldn't last a day if it was summer. I'll make sure to post what it gets IDed as at my trip to the museum is in a few weeks. Until then, I guess I'll be doing some research! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Having held that bone in hand, I'm pretty stumped. Originally I thought it was marine reptile but now have my doubts. It is heavily mineralized (I know the Brooks make bone look old really fast but I don't believe this to be the case). I compared it to other mosasaur specimens I found and it is similar in structure to some tooth sockets but I'm not ready to make that jump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Luckily, we do have a meeting planned at the end of the month at the museum and that is one of the specimens we were planning to bring 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vieira Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Fantastic finds. Beautifull Mosassaur tooth Congratulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shajzer64 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I finally made it to the museum and it was well worth the wait. The large bone was identified as a Mosasaur brain case. This specimen would be on the right side of the skull. In the next few months, I'll take it in so a mold can be made for ID purposes. Overall, it was best case scenario. frankh8147 made a post of it and the other pieces we took there, including 4 hadrosaur teeth and 2 crocodile teeth. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarrodB Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 On 1/3/2017 at 5:29 PM, frankh8147 said: .. Nice Mosasaur tooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 Thanks! The colors make it one of my favorites! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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