What is this tooth? Found on beach on Eastern Shore of MD

[Kyle Gerson]

I found this awesome tooth today by accident in about 4-5 feet of water at Betterton Beach on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It is about 2 1/8" long and very thin, like a needle tooth. On the bottom of the tooth, near its pointed end, there is some serration, and the point itself seems to have a small plate or point extending at the bottom of it. This is my first tooth I have ever found on a beach, and despite my research and fair knowledge of shark teeth, the question of whether this tooth is a fossil and what it belongs to has stumped me. Perhaps one of you could help me out?

 

PS: This is my first post on Fossil Forum, and I'd like to say hi to you guys, and I'm hoping you have an idea on what this is!

 

PPS: Is this tooth AWESOME, or what?

[Peat Burns]

Welcome to the forum.  Rather than a tooth, you have a fish spine.  Probably recent.

[ynot]

Welcome to TFF!

Nice find, but it is not a tooth.

I think it is a fish spine.

Pete beat Me.

[Kyle Gerson]

So is this a part of the spine of the fish, or is it a spine like a pufferfish spine? Either way, it's very cool. What kind of fish may it have belonged to? I appreciate the help.

[JohnBrewer]

A fish spine is,I believe, the part of the fish which keeps the fin rigid at the front of the fin. Right @ynot?

[Fossildude19]

Yup, either a dorsal fin spine or a pectoral fin spine.  

Regards,

[jcbshark]

Looks like there's barbs near the end, I would suspect possibly catfish or carp

[Harry Pristis]

3 minutes ago, jcbshark said:

Looks like there's barbs near the end, I would suspect possibly catfish or carp

 

That's just what it is:  An ocean catfish pectoral spine.

[FossilDAWG]

2 hours ago, Ryan Dye said:

... however it's usually difficult to classify any further then "fish" with that much bone. 

To the contrary, fin spines are frequently identifiable, as was the case with this specimen.

 

Don

[Auspex]

3 hours ago, Ryan Dye said:

... it's usually difficult to classify any further then "fish" with that much bone. 

Listen and learn, Grasshopper. There is much to know; take the time to know it

Please understand that an erroneous comment made here, and left uncontested, will be read by thousands of people, some of whom will take it as true. Best to stick with what you know and have verified, or to ask your thought as a question ("Is it usually difficult to classify any further than "fish" with just that much bone?").

[abyssunder]

Catfish dorsal spine.

Here is an example of dorsal spine of a siluriformes Hypostomus sp. :

 

Fig. 3. Hypostomus sp. (MFA-PV 1542) proximal fragment of dorsal spine in lateral (A), medial (B), and anterior (C) views and details of articular region in medial view (D); proximal fragment of right pectoral spine (MFA-PV 1562) in dorsal (E), ventral (F), and medial (G) views. Hypostomus commersoni pectoral spine (H) modified from Bisbal & Gómez (1986). Abbreviations: ant. pr, anterior process; art.f, articular foramen; art.g, articular groove; d.pr, dorsal process; l.s, longitudinal sulcus; md.pr, medial process. Scale bars: 10 mm.   

 

excerpt from here

 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by abyssunder

[ynot]

1 hour ago, Auspex said:

Listen and learn, Grasshopper. There is much to know; take the time to know it

Please understand that an erroneous comment made here, and left uncontested, will be read by thousands of people, some of whom will take it as true. Best to stick with what you know and have verified, or to ask your thought as a question ("Is it usually difficult to classify any further than "fish" with just that much bone?").

Wish I could give more than one "informative" for that one Chas!!!!

[RyanDye]

18 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

To the contrary, fin spines are frequently identifiable, as was the case with this specimen.

 

Don

My bad.

[RyanDye]

18 hours ago, Auspex said:

Listen and learn, Grasshopper. There is much to know; take the time to know it

Please understand that an erroneous comment made here, and left uncontested, will be read by thousands of people, some of whom will take it as true. Best to stick with what you know and have verified, or to ask your thought as a question ("Is it usually difficult to classify any further than "fish" with just that much bone?").

Got it.

[MeargleSchmeargl]

Not a tooth. It's a spine.