flyg Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Here's something I found in alluvium this fall. The location is Dorchester County, SC, Oligocene, almost certainly Ashley or Chandler Bridge formation. These formations are known for a variety of marine vertebrates including Elasmos and bony fish including Scombrids and billfish, marine turtles, cetaceans, sirenians, and crocodiles. Fresh water species are apparently rare. This is about 4.5 cm long, less than 1 cm diameter. It is not quite round in cross section, but has a slightly flattened side. I want it to be a Waipatiid dolphin "tusk". These are known from the area. It doesn't seem to have any enamel. Could I be right, or am I completely off base? Opinions appreciated. G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramon Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Cool fossil!!! But I have no idea on what it is. "Without fossils, no one would have ever dreamed that there were successive epochs in the formation of the earth" - Georges Cuvier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Does not look like a tooth. Maybe a fish spine.(?) Nice whatever it is! Tony 1 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...
flyg Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 3 minutes ago, ynot said: Does not look like a tooth. Maybe a fish spine.(?) Nice whatever it is! Tony Bam. Searched on that, came up with shark dorsal spine. That looks good to me. Thanks! G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 That is a nice and rare find!! 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...
Harry Pristis Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 If I had found this, I'd have called it a fish rostrum. 3 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Look into soft-shelled turtle spines as well. The ridges look like one to me. I don't know if they exist in these SC formations since they are fresh water. On the other hand, the surface I see in the last photo is not very soft shelly. http://www.skullsunlimited.com/record_variant.php?id=7766 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 It is a fish rostrum, probably one of the billfish or closely related. The two flat areas with the dimples are alveoli that held tiny teeth, similar to what modern swordfish and marlin have except modern ones aren't in the two rows like on this fossil. I have looked around on the internet and this looks very similar to Aglyptorhynchus. There is a paper that lists three species of Aglyptorhynchus from the Oligocene of South Carolina but I can't access the paper. Nice find by the way. I would be very happy finding this. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyg Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 Awesome. Billfish rostrum is right on. It still really looks superficially like a shark spine to me, but it's much too young to be a Hybodont and Squaliforms and Heterodontus sp. are not known here from what I can see. Billfish on the other hand are well known. Here's a hypural from the same location that looks (to me) a lot like Aglyptorynchus also. Good call, thanks. G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 I just added a picture of Aglyptorhynchus that I found on the internet to my original reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 I agree with Al Dente on this one - good eye. I almost thought fish spine as well, but it seems to be a tiny Aglyptorhynchus (perhaps a juvenile). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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