mrieder79 Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Fossil divers do it in the mud... or rocks... or sand... pretty much anywhere there's teeth. The point is, we crawl over a lot of stuff in the course of a dive. This weekend I was doing the normal thing looking for teeth while tyring to appear unappetizing to any passing sharks or gators when something scrunched under my right kneepad. I crawl over about a million and five rocks each dive, and usually ignore stuff like this, but that little fossil angel that straddles my tank said, "Better check that one out." So I did, and doggone it, that was a tooth down there! 3.9" fresh out of the clay. Thank you sir, I'll have another! (It looks bigger than 3.9" because I have tiny hands) Luck is the most important skill of a fossil diver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Awesome find! Such a beautiful tooth. "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izak_ Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Sweet tooth! Congratulations on the wonderful find. 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...
Darktooth Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Great tooth! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Looks nice, are you sure your girly hands can handle it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Finger-lickin' good! Nice Meg! Hopefully I'll have one from Summerville next week! Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vieira Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Congratulations. Fantastic tooth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrieder79 Posted July 24, 2017 Author Share Posted July 24, 2017 9 hours ago, caldigger said: Looks nice, are you sure your girly hands can handle it? It's a close one. I actually did almost lose this tooth. I usually put the nice ones in my wetsuit for safekeeping. This dive, I was just wearing a rash guard. At the end of the dive, it had migrated almost out the bottom. Luck is the most important skill of a fossil diver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Very nice,congrats Quote Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Diving in water with sharks and gators. Not for me! Too spooky! but very nice tooth fella. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Great specimen! “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Nice one. As Jeff's signature line so fittingly observes: Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there! Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Excellent find, a few barnacles here or there and a bite mark from an ancient feeding frenzy. I would love to find one exactly like it. Just how do you make yourself unappetizing to large predators??? pink polka dot dive boots with chartreuse wetsuit? I have to consider my local fauna -- more gator than sharks. Jack The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pemphix Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrieder79 Posted July 24, 2017 Author Share Posted July 24, 2017 6 hours ago, Shellseeker said: Excellent find, a few barnacles here or there and a bite mark from an ancient feeding frenzy. I would love to find one exactly like it. Just how do you make yourself unappetizing to large predators??? pink polka dot dive boots with chartreuse wetsuit? I have to consider my local fauna -- more gator than sharks. Jack I drink a ton of gatorade between dives and pee in my wetsuit almost continually. More sharks than gators where I dive and that's the way I like it. Gators are about 5x scarier to me. Luck is the most important skill of a fossil diver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 Wetsuit warming has never kept sharks at bay in my experience. Proper hydration is highly indicated in reducing the risk of decompression sickness so I heartily encourage the practice (and participate in it when I have the opportunity). There are two kinds of people in this world--those that pee in their wetsuits and those who lie about it. Actually, the increased pressure underwater artificially increases the blood pressure which the kidneys interpret as an excess of blood volume and they retaliate by increasing their diuretic actions to minimize blood volume resulting in the urge to put the wet in wetsuit. Additionally, I'm also more comfortable with sharks and I too am more comfortable diving in swarms of sharks than with a single gator. If I had more experience with the scaly ones I'd probably come to respect them with less of a sense of alarm but for now I'll choose to dive with a bevy of sharks over a single gator longer than I. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.