frankh8147 Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Hello everyone! I need some help on identification with a few fossils from Monmouth County, New Jersey. I believe the fossils in the first two groups of pictures are all Cretaceous Marine reptile bone but I was wondering if anyone could link any of them to any particular creature. The second is a vertebra I recently found; I was thinking possible Plesiosaur but was unsure. Thanks! -Frank .. .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Look like chunkasaurus to Me. Maybe someone else can tell more. 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...
frankh8147 Posted July 24, 2017 Author Share Posted July 24, 2017 One more picture of the middle group.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted July 24, 2017 Author Share Posted July 24, 2017 16 minutes ago, ynot said: Look like chunkasaurus to Me. Maybe someone else can tell more. That's what most of the fossil bone I find here gets labeled as. Once in a while you get lucky and find a large chunk of bone with something diagnostic but as a whole, most of the reptile bone I find goes unidentified. I'm just wondering if there is anything about these examples in the structure that can lead to an ID. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Your vertebra is from a shark or ray. The layered edge is consistent with Squatina but I think Brachyrhizodus is possible too. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike from North Queensland Posted July 25, 2017 Share Posted July 25, 2017 Your larger piece from the first photo looks to be a section of the neural arch of a vertebra Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 19 hours ago, Al Dente said: Your vertebra is from a shark or ray. The layered edge is consistent with Squatina but I think Brachyrhizodus is possible too. Interesting! I have never found a Squatina without the cartilage attached so that wasn't even on my radar. Brachyrhizodus tends to have more of an oval shape and this isn't matching up well against my others but I wouldn't necessarily rule it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 On 7/25/2017 at 5:45 AM, Mike from North Queensland said: Your larger piece from the first photo looks to be a section of the neural arch of a vertebra Mike I think that can definitely be the case. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted December 15, 2017 Author Share Posted December 15, 2017 I wanted to update this post for sake of future research. The vert. was looked at by the museum and ended being bony fish; most likely Xiphactinus vetus. I think most of the other are likely impossible to identify. As always, thanks again and happy holidays!! -Frank 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Jersey Devil Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 The vertebra looks like a typical ray vert. What was their reasoning for it being from a bony fish? Happy Holidays! “You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 1 hour ago, frankh8147 said: I wanted to update this post for sake of future research. The vert. was looked at by the museum and ended being bony fish; most likely Xiphactinus vetus. I think most of the other are likely impossible to identify. As always, thanks again and happy holidays!! -Frank Not Xiphactinus. They have several large foramina on the sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted December 16, 2017 Author Share Posted December 16, 2017 @josephstrizhak @Al Dente Happy holidays to you too and thank you for all of your help and research with IDs'! I understand that everyone gets ID's wrong sometimes (especially with an example as worn as this) so as always, I am open to new ideas. After hearing it was probably fish, I compared some examples, researched online and made the same conclusion myself. From what I read, rays verts. from the time period have an oval shape - that correlates with the rays' I found (pictures below). They also look off when you compare them together. Examples of Squatina I have seen and found just don't pass the eye test for me (but they are pretty rare here so I haven't seen many examples to compare - I'll post a few pics. of some I've found but would be very curious to see more images). So that's what led me to agree with the original ID; Below are pictures. As you know; I'm always happy to change my opinion and most importantly LEARN SOMETHING NEW!! Let me know what you think! So to me, it compared better with these know examples (first two pics. are of my fossil, second two are of known Xiphactinus examples)..any chance it could just be really worn, like these two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted December 16, 2017 Author Share Posted December 16, 2017 Finally, here is the Squatina I found (which has been donated). I have other, rougher examples too which basically look like this one. They do not match to me, but other images of Squatina verts., which match mine, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted December 16, 2017 Author Share Posted December 16, 2017 I found one more comparison.. Mine is the 1st one; 2nd is a Xiphactinus vert. from Kansas https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Xiphactinus-audax-vertebra-Niobrara-fm-Kansas-Cretaceous-fossil-fish-/122185468615 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 Bony fish bones can have a flaky appearance but the centra of Squatina and some Cretaceous rays will have concentric layers through the entire centra which is what I think I see in your fossil. Here are some examples I pulled from the internet of Xiphactinus to compare to your fossil. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 Here are some fossil Squatina centra from the internet with a brief description of their centra. Here is a link to a TFF discussion on a broken Brachyrhizodus centrum that displays the concentric layers- http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/72438-ramanessin-brook-id-please/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted December 16, 2017 Author Share Posted December 16, 2017 Tough call. On those two charts though, I like G - L (especially G - K) on the first chart, compared to this angle of the one in question .. As opposed to anything on the second chart, which seem to correlate nicely to my comparison pieces of ray vertabrae (pictured below my fossil in question here)..Mostly based on the oval shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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