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5 inch Meg in the summer ... finally


Brett Breakin' Rocks

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  Whoo Boy .. what a Friday !  I decided that this was the day I was gonna pull a Meg out of the water.  I even called it with my wife present, and she gave me the same rolled eyes to the ceiling look .. haha. I had dropped in two weeks prior and pulled out 3 fraglodons in the 2-3in range in the same spot so I suspected that there were other large chunks to be had if not a whole tooth.  These teeth are from a re-worked layer so in the stream they can take a further beating. 

 

  On the whole the rains have been pretty steady on and off the past few weeks and the water was murky unfortunately.  Making it hard to know where I was searching. The humidity was at a wonderful 98% so I was sweating like a yeti in July but thankfully the mosquitoes were absent.

 

  The teeth at this spot were not as small, or well preserved for the most part.  A few small verts,  mako teeth, more fish teeth than I've ever found, a really worn toothed whale, and about a dozen fragmented angustiden teeth.  At this spot I was able to score my most complete angy to date in the water.  The cusps intact are rare in the stream bed, I've seen them often pristine but these usually are from diggers that attack the banks or land sites.

 

The meg wasn't deep and I flipped it up off the bottom using a sand flea rake of all things .. must've stepped on it a few times before I found it.  I hardly ever use that rake.

 

5 inches on the slant.  It's taken over a year so there was nothing easy about it, just happened to get lucky and read the signs.

 

Cheers,

Brett

 

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a few of the other finds.

 

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01_SummervilleSC_062317_01.thumb.jpg.4be2b731707dfce925b28a86a2b81d28.jpg

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Congratulations, Brett, on all of your finds today, but oh my stars in the morning, that meg is gorgeous!! Wow! :) 

 

Leah

 

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9 minutes ago, ynot said:

Nice finds all around.

What is the small tooth in last picture?

You know .. I'm pretty sure it is a small toothed whale ... similar to a Squalodon ? ... (I'm assuming not) but it is so worn. I'm assuming from a rear tooth position.

 

594f47fbc2963_Waipatiahectori.jpg.12a3473dfdc1b796337e36f8f1bb1918.jpg

 

another candidate .. now these are from the Oligocene which I think would line up with the Chandler Bridge and examples are found nearby.

594f488519dfa_Echovenatorteeth.thumb.jpg.7e2186c1456c2bf5f1d669ea56da8153.jpg

 

The coastal paleontologist has a great discussion of just this subject .. I've got some reading to catch up on.

 

http://coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2016/12/no-you-dont-have-prosqualodon-tooth-and.html

 

Cheers,

B

 

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What a great find Brett! Congratulations!

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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Excellent finds,congrats! I like to use a sand flea scoop for scratching around the hole I'm digging when it caves in on itself. Also comes in handy in spots too deep to dig, you can at least get what's on top:)

Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there!

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Fantastic Meg, Brett. I love it when a plan comes together. Any thoughts on what causes the darker edge on the labial side? I have only a few exactly like that. .. Tooth whales Now you are talking fossils that get my juices flowing!!! 

:popcorn: 

Also appreciate your excellent photo work. What tools do you use?

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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I always thought the the teeth I have were Squalodon. Now I'm not so sure. Thanks for the article, you learn something new every day.

Great Meg by the way. 

"If you choose not to decide. You still have made a choice." - Rush

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Congrats on the 5 incher.  Now you can move on to the next challenge,,,,, the 6 incher.    Good luck

 

RB

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2 hours ago, Darktooth said:

What a great find Brett! Congratulations!

Thanks Dave .. it has been a great break.  I usually only get out once or twice in a three month period to this spot so twice in a two week period was fantastic ...

 

Cheers,

B

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1 hour ago, jcbshark said:

Excellent finds,congrats! I like to use a sand flea scoop for scratching around the hole I'm digging when it caves in on itself. Also comes in handy in spots too deep to dig, you can at least get what's on top:)

Yeah JC, I get so nervous with that thing ... it's like panning for gold and grabbing a colander.  I don't wanna miss the little guys kicked out by those huge holes on the side.  hahaha ... maybe one day I will dust off the cobwebs from my 1/2" sifter.  But for now my back is strong and my patience is good.  :D  I know how you guys roll on the Peace. 

 

Cheers,

B

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1 hour ago, Shellseeker said:

Fantastic Meg, Brett. I love it when a plan comes together. Any thoughts on what causes the darker edge on the labial side? I have only a few exactly like that. .. Tooth whales Now you are talking fossils that get my juices flowing!!! 

:popcorn: 

Also appreciate your excellent photo work. What tools do you use?

Hi Jack, in full disclosure I rushed this 'photography' (I know shocker ha :D) and used the scanner instead of my camera.  I've always noticed the edges have a prismatic effect and reflect the light differently at different angles. I think it was my poor light level correction and the distortion from the flatbed scanner throwing light on the tooth unevenly.  It was scanned at a 45 degree angle to the bulb.  In my hand there are no real discrepancies. I always use photoshop for cleanup and honestly unless it's huge .. a scanner.

 

As for the toothed whales .. they are poorly preserved and rare at the site .. but I did find one other of the same size but probably different species that was cracked in half at the crown. ):

 

Cheers,

Brett

51 minutes ago, Past Hunter said:

I always thought the the teeth I have were Squalodon. Now I'm not so sure. Thanks for the article, you learn something new every day.

Great Meg by the way. 

Same here ... there apparently are a few other candidates in this area.

 

 

41 minutes ago, RJB said:

Congrats on the 5 incher.  Now you can move on to the next challenge,,,,, the 6 incher.    Good luck

 

RB

Ha !! .. you know . I thought the same thing, but dang.  Short of tossing on a wetsuit and bringing my own air I just don't see how that is gonna happen.  Crosses fingers.

 

:meg:

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Oh man oh man oh man. I bet you hollered when that thing turned up! What a beauty.  That angy is sweet, too.  Glad you had such a good day in the creek. 

Luck is the most important skill of a fossil diver.

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29 minutes ago, mrieder79 said:

Oh man oh man oh man. I bet you hollered when that thing turned up! What a beauty.  That angy is sweet, too.  Glad you had such a good day in the creek. 

Yes ... like a 6 year old girl .... :1-SlapHands_zpsbb015b76:

 

B

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20 hours ago, jewelonly said:

Congratulations, Brett, on all of your finds today, but oh my stars in the morning, that meg is gorgeous!! Wow! :) 

 

Leah

 

Thanks Leah .. it made for a great day.  I even left early that day not wanting to push my luck.

 

7 hours ago, beachbum said:

Nice meg! persistence pays off.

Indeed .. you can't just walk up and find these things lying around.  It takes time, research, and patience.

 

Cheers

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